Government crest Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Go to Local Digital homepageALPHA

Laying the foundations for the local public services of the future

Exploring barriers to online engagement with council services

Contents:

  1. Project outputs
  2. Project timeline

All councils are facing the challenge of encouraging residents to transact online, however, this is a more prominent issue in areas where there is increased digital exclusion. 

This discovery, led by South Ribble Borough Council, will conduct an investigation into the requirements needed for residents to access council services, with the aim of streamlining or removing unnecessary sign-in requirements. 

Both councils and residents will benefit from this project, as an increase in the number of online transactions will reduce the number of face-to-face, telephone and email interactions.

As a result, this will allow council officers more time to provide face-to-face and telephone resources for those who are vulnerable or have complex needs. 

This transition to online interaction will also improve digital inclusivity across the area.

Project outputs

The documents that will be made available as a result of the project will include:

  • a business case which will outline estimated cost and cost effectiveness, a risk register and anticipated benefits
  • a user research report that will consider the current and proposed customer experience, whilst understanding what the user’s needs are
  • a report of market research completed to define which tasks can be done without logging in whilst maintaining safe and secure standards

Project details

Phase: Discovery

Funding granted: £35,175

Partners: South Ribble Borough Council (Lead Council), Chorley Council and Preston City Council

Project links

Project timeline

March 2023

The project is awarded £35,175  in funding through Round 6 of the Local Digital Fund to begin a discovery phase.

April 2023

South Ribble’s project team have agreed to meet w/c 8 May following their kick-off meeting. They will discuss their findings from the meeting and scope out the requirements for procurement, in particular a user researcher.

May 2023

The team met to discuss their requirements from a user researcher. They’ve agreed to spend the next sprint engaging with some local user research companies to discuss how they might approach the project, in order to put a specification together and complete procurement.