London Borough of Lewisham

Outcome of Expression of Interest: Not shortlisted

Digital Zones

LB Lewisham have developed a Digital Zone to support an ambitious channel shift.  The zone is hosted in the Councils main building and acts as a triage for customers who need to interact with the council but are not yet comfortable with online services.  It also identifies those who are never going to use online services and are not supported by family or intermediaries.

Its sphere of activity includes:

  • Helping residents use their smartphones to access the councils digital front door
  • Identifying the estimated 30% of customers unable or unwilling to use the digital front door and ensure they are not excluded from council services
  • Support Housing and school applications including Universal Credit change of circumstances for housing benefit
  • Gatekeeper to the limited face to face resources remaining
  • Supporting residents with immediate needs
  • Signposting residents to appropriate basic digital skills training close to their homes
  • Reduce public footfall to council buildings

We are open to partner bordering boroughs but feel this would be particularly fitting to the City of London Corporation, who have several out of borough estates including in Southwark, Islington, Lambeth and Tower Hamlets.

Discovery evidence

The objectives of the project would be to replicate and productise the Digital Zone model that has developed over three years and operated in its current form successfully for over a year.  We would like to take it out of the council’s building in Lewisham and run them as pop-ups in some of the densely populated areas in Lewisham, particularly estates in the far north and south of the borough, where the residents often feel excluded and regularly have to travel several miles to access services.  The proposed Zones would use a combination of newly digitally enabled and kitted out spaces that would also serve as training facilities.  There will also be 4G enabled tablets, so sessions could take place in any locations; conceivably GP surgeries, community spaces, libraries, shopping centres.  This model could easily be adapted for any borough including rural locations.  It could also interest potential partnerships with DWP to support any issues with Universal Credit on the ground and local Clinical Commissioning Groups with booking online appointments, information on medical services and social prescribing.

  • Introduction to service design
  • Introduction to delivery management
  • Introduction to digital business analysis