Exemplar 12: Carer’s Allowance
Published 1 June 2013
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240,000 people claim Carer’s Allowance a year.
Department responsible
| Department | Permanent secretary | Digital leader |
|---|---|---|
| Department for Work and Pensions | Robert Devereux | Kevin Cunnington |
Status
The service is live and being continuously improved.
Watch a video about the live service, filmed November 2014:
Video: Claim Carer’s Allowance online
Watch a short demo about making a claim online, filmed January 2014:
Demo: Exemplar 12 – Claim Carer’s Allowance
You can also watch a, checking whether you’re eligible to make a claim, filmed July 2013.
Video: Exemplar 12: Claim Carer’s Allowance - Demo
Successes
160,000 digital claims submitted since release of public beta.
Live service, including Welsh language version, released.
More than half of applications are now made using the digital service.
User satisfaction ratings of approximately 90%.
Change of circumstances can now be reported online.
Challenges
To increase channel shift: increase digital take-up and move away from paper transactions
Next
Continue to improve the live service.
Integrate the live service with more of the department’s systems to improve efficiency for agents and reduce paper processing.
Live service performance
Digital take-up
See the proportion of claims made using the digital service.
User satisfaction
See the user satisfaction data for Apply for Carer’s Allowance.
Completion rate
See the proportion of users who start and complete their application using the digital service
Digital strategy statement
From the ‘Department for Work & Pensions digital strategy’, December 2012:
The new service is being developed with the needs of carers at its heart, looking to remove complexity from the current user journey. There are clear benefits for people who are caring full-time of being able to interact with the Department at a time and in a way that suits them.
Scope of exemplar
Carer’s Allowance is a benefit for people looking after someone with substantial caring needs. Users can currently make a claim through the post or online. The exemplar project replaced the previous online claim process which had low take-up and did not meet the standards set out in the department’s digital strategy.
The Carer’s Allowance project is currently in public beta and is regularly tested with real users. We will continue to improve the service with regular small releases. To learn more about the Carer’s Allowance work you can visit the DWP Digital Blog where we’ll be posting regular updates.
Digital inclusion
GDS has mapped the exemplars against the digital inclusion scale to help show where these services may be difficult for some people to use. See the rating for Claim Carer’s Allowance.
Delivery Status
Discovery
Completed: Discovery - September 2013.
Read about the discovery phase.
Alpha
Completed: Alpha build - December 2013.
Beta
Completed: Private beta - July 2013.
Completed: Public beta released - October 2013.
Completed: Welsh language version of service released - April 2014.
Completed: Improvements to service for users reporting a change in circumstances - April 2014.
Live
Completed: Service goes live - November 2014.
Anticipated volume
3.2m carers in the UK
Service link
See Apply for Carer’s Allowance.
Service performance
See Apply for Carer’s Allowance data on the Performance Platform.
For further information about this project please visit our blog or contact us.