diff --git a/app/payment-links/start/start.njk b/app/payment-links/start/start.njk
index 7805a3c9c..1a8fbc637 100644
--- a/app/payment-links/start/start.njk
+++ b/app/payment-links/start/start.njk
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
     <h1 class="govuk-heading-l">{{ product.name }}</h1>
 
     {% if product.description %}
-    <p class="govuk-body" data-cy="product-description">{{ product.description | striptags(true) | escape | nl2br }}</p>
+    <div data-cy="product-description">{{ product.description | striptags(true) | formatMarkdown | safe }}</div>
     {% endif %}
   
     {{ govukButton({
diff --git a/app/utils/format-markdown.js b/app/utils/format-markdown.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f72f08d5b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/utils/format-markdown.js
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+/**
+ * Credit: https://github.com/ministryofjustice/opg-performance-data/blob/63fac0c26a701f37cfa2d4d8229cf82937ad5047/markdown-it-gds.js#L4
+ */
+
+'use strict'
+
+const markdownIt = require('markdown-it')
+
+const linkExternalStack = []
+
+/**
+ * Rules that can be enabled/disabled for markdown-it can be found here:
+ * https://github.com/markdown-it/markdown-it/blob/0fe7ccb4b7f30236fb05f623be6924961d296d3d/lib/parser_block.mjs
+ * https://github.com/markdown-it/markdown-it/blob/HEAD/lib/parser_inline.mjs
+ */
+const md = markdownIt({
+  html: false,
+  breaks: true
+})
+  .disable(['heading', 'lheading', 'image', 'table', 'code', 'fence', 'blockquote', 'hr', 'html_block', 'reference', 'emphasis', 'backticks', 'strikethrough', 'html_inline', 'autolink', 'entity'])
+
+function defaultRender (tokens, idx, options, env, self) {
+  return self.renderToken(tokens, idx, options);
+}
+
+md.renderer.rules.paragraph_open = function (tokens, idx, options, env, self) {
+  tokens[idx].attrPush(["class", "govuk-body"]);
+  return defaultRender(tokens, idx, options, env, self);
+}
+
+md.renderer.rules.link_open = function (tokens, idx, options, env, self) {
+  let externalLink = false;
+  tokens[idx].attrPush(["class", "govuk-link"]);
+  if (tokens[idx].attrGet("href").indexOf("http") === 0) {
+    externalLink = true;
+    tokens[idx].attrPush(["target", "_blank"]);
+    tokens[idx].attrPush(["rel", "noreferrer noopener"]);
+
+    linkExternalStack.push(externalLink);
+  }
+  return defaultRender(tokens, idx, options, env, self);
+}
+
+md.renderer.rules.link_close = function (tokens, idx, options, env, self) {
+  const externalLink = linkExternalStack.pop();
+  if (externalLink) {
+    return `<span class="govuk-visually-hidden">(opens in new tab)</span></a>`;
+  }
+  return defaultRender(tokens, idx, options, env, self);
+};
+
+md.renderer.rules.bullet_list_open = function (tokens, idx, options, env, self) {
+  tokens[idx].attrPush(["class", "govuk-list govuk-list--bullet"]);
+  return defaultRender(tokens, idx, options, env, self);
+}
+
+md.renderer.rules.ordered_list_open = function (tokens, idx, options, env, self) {
+  tokens[idx].attrPush(["class", "govuk-list govuk-list--number"]);
+  return defaultRender(tokens, idx, options, env, self);
+}
+
+function formatMarkdown (rawText) {
+  return md.render(rawText)
+}
+
+module.exports = {
+  formatMarkdown
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/config/server.js b/config/server.js
index 27032fcf3..7b42a1444 100644
--- a/config/server.js
+++ b/config/server.js
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ const loggingMiddleware = require('../app/middleware/logging-middleware')
 const { requestContextMiddleware } = require('../app/clients/base/request-context')
 const Sentry = require('../app/utils/sentry.js').initialiseSentry()
 const replaceParamsInPath = require('../app/utils/replace-params-in-path')
+const { formatMarkdown } = require('../app/utils/format-markdown')
 
 // Global constants
 const JAVASCRIPT_PATH = staticify.getVersionedPath('/js/application.min.js')
@@ -106,6 +107,9 @@ function initialiseTemplateEngine (app) {
   // if it's not production we want to re-evaluate the assets on each file change
   nunjucksEnvironment.addGlobal('css_path', staticify.getVersionedPath('/stylesheets/application.min.css'))
   nunjucksEnvironment.addGlobal('js_path', NODE_ENV === 'production' ? JAVASCRIPT_PATH : staticify.getVersionedPath('/js/application.js'))
+
+  // Load custom Nunjucks filters
+  nunjucksEnvironment.addFilter('formatMarkdown', formatMarkdown)
 }
 
 function initialisePublic (app) {