Apply for a National Insurance number beta assessment report
The report for the Apply for a National Insurance number beta assessment on 07 January 2021
Digital Service Standard assessment report
Apply for a National Insurance number
| From: | The Government Digital Service (GDS) |
| Assessment date: | 07/01/2021 |
| Stage: | Beta |
| Result: | Met |
| Service provider: | The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) |
Previous assessment reports
Service description
The service allows citizens to apply for a National Insurance number online. This reduces the amount of time needed during the face-to-face evidence appointment at a Jobcentre, because the digital service removes the need to complete a lengthy paper application at the appointment.
Service users
- EU / EEA Nationals (63%)
- Non-EU / EEA / Rest of the World Nationals (34%)
- UK Nationals - including dual nationals and people not included in HMRC’s automatic registration process (2%)
- Republic of Ireland Nationals (1%)
1. Understand user needs
Decision
The service met point 1 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- the team has a well developed set of personas that they are using to help think about the needs of their different users
- the team is reaching out to relevant communities, and scheduling specific research to explore the impact of the gender question in their design on trans and non-binary people
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- do more research with users of the service that may have access needs or lower digital skills to expand the team’s understanding of their needs. Consider how these users can and do access the service, for example with support of third parties. Similarly some of the user personas would benefit from further exploration
- prioritise full user research in order to help stress test the design of the service as a whole. Coronavirus has caused challenges conducting research
- research with third parties or agents who might be supporting someone else to use the service, such as translators or charities
2. Do ongoing user research
Decision
The service met point 2 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- the team is making the most of the customer satisfaction survey, both for quantitative data, and also recruitment of research participants
- the way the team was working to combine both qualitative and quantitative research methods seemed like a really effective way to understand and iterate the design. The panel encourages the team to share this work more widely across government
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- test error messages and content using user research methods especially given that many users’ first language is not English. For example the team could explore comprehension testing and highlighter testing
- test further the assisted digital phone number and keep a close eye on what kind of calls are being received and any emerging themes. Consider whether there are scripts for call operators that need to be improved and how easy it is for people to get through
- ensure the user researcher has sufficient support in order to cover the wide range of important planned user research activities in sufficient detail in the build up to launching public beta
- ensure they are considering the limitations of recruiting from the customer satisfaction survey and consider where else they need to do targeted recruitment of some harder to reach groups of users
3. Have a multidisciplinary team
Decision
The service met point 3 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- since alpha the team has fulfilled all the core team roles within the digital delivery function
- the team has worked well with the principle service supplier to significantly develop the service beyond the Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- review the frequency of their monthly steering board in order to escalate any further capacity issues, given the huge backlogs of applications for a National Insurance number
- ramp up user research as the service becomes fully accessible on GOV.UK and consider applying for additional UR resources on the team
4. Use agile methods
Decision
The service met point 4 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- the team has continued working in an agile environment within the beta phase
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- keep delivering iteratively and improving how the team works based on continuous user feedback once the service launches from invite-only into a fully live service
5. Iterate and improve frequently
Decision
The service met point 5 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- through the team’s presentation of their roadmap and user research it is evident they have a clear understanding of iterating and improving frequently as they move into a live environment
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- explore ways to further integrate user feedback into their sprint cycles when moving into live
- review their user stories now they are a fully operable live service
6. Evaluate tools and systems
Decision
The service met point 6 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- the team was able to talk about the pros and cons of their Akamai-based approach to country-blocking to prevent non-UK users from using their service
- the team utilised existing platforms and technologies within DWP
- the team had thought about the price of the service in terms of app and platform running costs
7. Understand security and privacy issues
Decision
The service met point 7 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- the team has given thought to the appropriate amount of time to expire customer data if they haven’t completed a journey
- the technical mechanism for data expiry has been implemented
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- finalise work around data retention within the Data Capture Service
8. Make all new source code open
Decision
The service did not meet point 8 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- the code is available internally to DWP employees to look at
- the team uses and contributes back to open-source projects created by DWP
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- explore thoroughly the work to get all senior stakeholder sign-off necessary to open up the core code to the public
9. Use open standards and common platforms
Decision
The service met point 9 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- the service is deployed onto a platform built on top of public cloud
- the front-end service was built using the design system and appropriate accessibility standards
10. Test the end-to-end service
Decision
The service met point 10 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- the team has a dedicated testing presence
- performance tests are regularly run against a live-like environment
- performance improvements are scheduled in the backlog alongside other work
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- explore the feasibility of automated accessibility testing, if they haven’t already, to represent users that have assisted digital needs
11. Make a plan for being offline
Decision
The service met point 11 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- the team has disaster-recovery tested the application and built redundancy into their deployments using platform-specific capabilities
- the team ensured that their third-party services have automated and scheduled backups
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- explore creating a business case for extending call centre handling capacity. Phone line assistance is only available 9am - 3pm, however, there is a significant back-log of applicants, particularly from the EU
- perform a full disaster-recovery drill from scratch to ensure that they are able to achieve their recovery target
12: Make sure users succeed first time
Decision
The service met point 12 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- the team understands the different requirements and user needs for the different personas
- the team has iterated designs based on user research
- the team is considering alternative designs to problematic questions and screens
- the team has measured the effectiveness of content changes
- the team has tested with internal staff that have assisted digital needs
- the team has tested for accessibility, the service is AA compliant and has a published accessibility statement
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- test and resolve alternative designs that were problematic
- test with citizens who have assisted digital needs
- use a wider number of users to test with in particular users who first language is not English
- resolve issues from the accessibility reports
- factor in issues around non-binary genders into the design
- test error messages and content with a range of user research methods
13. Make the user experience consistent with GOV.UK
Decision
The service met point 13 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- the team has conducted some user research before making decisions and designs that are different from the design system
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- ensure content is audited against the GOV.UK style guide, design system and interface guidelines to ensure minor issues are addressed
- ensure issues highlighted in the GOV.UK content review are resolved
- share design patterns and findings for “search light” with the wider cross government design community
- continue to do further user research as set out in the teams plan and testing, and share these finding with the cross government community before deviating from established GDS design patterns
14. Encourage everyone to use the digital service
Decision
The service met point 14 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed with:
- how the team has managed a significant uptake in the service during an invite-only private beta stage, proving beyond doubt that there is a clear user need for the service
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- explore whether there may be a genuine user need for users to begin their service journey from outside the UK. The service primarily serves non-UK nationals
15. Collect performance data
Decision
The service met point 15 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- the team has implemented Google Analytics to measure digital service performance and it is aligned with department conventions and best practice. Furthermore, there seems to be a responsive relationship with developers in order to fix any bugs and tracking issues
- the team has considered privacy and personal information risks in using Google Analytics and has a strong knowledge of department policy and procedures in this area
- the team has identified the metrics to collect using a variety of sources including service satisfaction survey, management information and data from the operations team. The team has also demonstrated that they have used user research findings to inform data collection
- performance analysis work is embedded well within the team and has informed design work. Particularly impressive was the strong link between user research and performance analysis as research findings were regularly used to create measurable hypotheses
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- ensure that access to the satisfaction survey and operations management information is handed over if there are team changes
- use data collected around user errors to inform design work around error messaging and content
16. Identify performance indicators
Decision
The service met point 16 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- a performance framework was created and prioritised by the team and it was based upon user needs as well as business goals
- a key performance indicator to measure accessibility was included in the framework demonstrating the team’s commitment to improving this area
- baselined measures were captured and the team was able to measure current performance against this
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- create Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the assisted digital route and build on regular catch ups and monitoring sessions with the operations team. By creating KPIs for the assisted digital route it will help show how they support assisted digital users and how they plan to support users to apply online. It may be beneficial to calculate digital take up which is one of the four recommended KPIs
17. Report performance data on the Performance Platform
Decision
The service met point 17 of the Standard.
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- explore whether it is feasible to make a service specific performance platform publicly accessible as the service moves into public beta (live)
18. Test with the minister
Decision
The team met point 18 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- the team has a plan in place to test with the minister
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team must:
- show the panel the outcome of testing with the minister