Apply for Pension Credit beta reassessment
The report for DWP's Apply for Pension Credit beta reassessment
Service Standard assessment report
Apply for Pension Credit
| From: | Government Digital Service |
| Assessment date: | 15 July 2020 |
| Offline reassessment: | 4 April 2021 |
| Stage: | Beta |
| Result: | Met |
| Service provider: | Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) |
Previous assessment reports
Service description
The service helps pension age citizens who do not have enough money to live on in retirement to claim Pension Credit, a DWP benefit, through their channel of choice. The amount a citizen receives is based on how much other money they have in terms of income, assets and savings. This service makes it easier and quicker for citizens to claim and reduces the amount of information they need to provide to DWP.
The current focus of Apply for Pension Credit is to provide an online journey for citizens to complement the existing telephony and postal channels. The ultimate goal of the service is to make it easier for users to get Pension Credit, through transformation of the end to end user journey across all channels, including the replacement of ageing legacy systems used by DWP advisers.
Service users
Primary users
- Pension-aged citizens (who do not have enough money to live on)
Secondary users
- Power of attorney
- Appointees including corporate appointees
- Friends / family of pension aged citizens
- Charities and advice bodies.
- DWP advisers/G4S who triage people who claim by telephone
2. Solve a whole problem for users
Decision
The service met point 2 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that the team:
- updated user needs to reflect how Covid-19 has changed people’s lives, and the organisations they depend on
- ensure that potential vulnerabilities and limitations of users continue to influence design, iterating quickly to address emergent needs of applicants and third parties (practical examples include a printable record of submission, and the ability to identify when a third party applies on behalf of an individual)
- used a variety of research methods since July to better understand user experience in the absence of being able to undertake face to face or screen-shared remote usability sessions, including telephone sessions where participants were asked to think aloud and talk through the process of submission with the user researcher
- gave a thorough explanation of the end-to-end user journey for primary and secondary users, including pain points and things done to address these
- identified a number of touch-points with other related services and are working with their contact centre to continually improve the service
- made changes based on feedback for how to find the service, including engaging with organisations like AgeUK, to make sure the service works for their users in some cases making improvements based on feedback
- used comments and feedback from the phone sessions to improve guidance around what exactly state pension credit is, and who is eligible to claim pension credits, especially in regard to financial requirements and limitations
- engaged with users who applied but weren’t eligible, to understand what led them to apply, including if it was a result of engaging with related services like a pension calculator
- improved guidance around the service, noting efforts to always provide users with an informed choice, while reducing the amount of ineligible claimants that apply
- continue to work with GOV.UK to make changes to guidance as needed
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- explore if there are benefits to DWP managing GOV.UK content directly relevant to conveying potential eligibility or information needed to complete the application process. If so, determine what is needed to re-classify the relevant ‘mainstream’ content as ‘specialist’, so that the service team has more direct control of the related content in order to keep pace with the rapid iterative process
3. Provide a joined-up experience across all channels
Decision
The service met point 3 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that the team:
- improved guidance throughout the journey to clearly communicate to users what’s next, including informing the user that they should expect to receive a letter in the post when applicable, and signposting the phone number that will be ringing back when a telephone call is necessary
- reduced the burden on the user to input data by using existing information where possible, such as current state pension data or if an applicant receives UC
- collaborated with UC work coaches to ensure they were aware of the online service, and they now prompt people to claim pension credit where applicable
- effectively coordinated with colleagues in operations to ensure that applicants can move from one benefit to pension credit without a gap in payment when changes come into effect on 25 November 2020
- coordinated with telephony colleagues to capture the types of questions agents were receiving, and to educate agents about the service, so that they could let callers know the online option is available
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- further investigate if there are other data feeds (or possibly updates to policy) that could remove the need for users to send in physical evidence to prove eligibility
- continue to monitor how this service fits into a user’s wider journey through user research interviews
4. Make the service simple to use
Decision
The service met point 4 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- the service provides obvious confirmation when an application is successfully submitted, which is easily downloaded for printing or offline storage
- the team continues to iterate and explore improvements to communication throughout the journey, including the use of email notifications for updates
- the team’s use of data from Google Analytics, application logs, phone interviews, and even survey comments to reduce errors and improve design in areas like the habitual residency check
- implemented the timeout countdown in response to user feedback about the session abruptly ending without appropriate warning
- the team addressed the original recommendations from the assessment to remove barriers to undertaking remote usability research using screen share
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- continue to remove the barriers to undertaking remote usability research
- introduce a more regular cadence of user research focused on usability to feed into the iterative process, as it will make scoping and prioritising the work in each sprint much more straightforward. As a result of the team’s success in implementing weekly releases, significant changes have been made (and will continue to be made) to the service
- conduct usability sessions with individuals and third parties to determine if a ‘save and return‘ type feature would make the process easier for users. Likely related, based on user research, consider whether a task list pattern will help users to understand what information is required to complete the service
5. Make sure everyone can use the service
Decision
The service met point 5 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- the service completed accessibility audits from an internal DWP team and have built accessibility into their working practices
- the team conducted interviews with 3rd parties focused on usability
- the team facilitated telephone sessions focused on usability for users who were recently retired, and for those that had been retired for some time
- the team facilitated telephone sessions on usability with friends and family members who were likely to be assisting an individual to complete the application
- the team worked with a council to gain insights from the results of a campaign around uptake for pension credit, especially around barriers that have prevented seemingly eligible individuals from making a claim
- the team sought and used relevant / related organisations to raise awareness (demonstrably capitalised on the Martin Lewis effect to drive traffic to a service)
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- demonstrate what has been learnt from accessibility audits and previous user research and how the service has improved as a result
- undertake user research sessions with accessibility users. The panel acknowledges they were restricted to remote-only research which makes this more difficult. However, they were surprised to hear their recent attempts to recruit had been unsuccessful. The team should consider why this was and make fresh efforts to get these users on board, as they are a key part of the overall user group
- consider using an accessibility testing specialist centre
- continue to engage with colleagues in other areas (like state pensions) to determine if they can help to identify and recruit users to participate in user research, including scenarios where an individual appears to be eligible based on available data, but has not applied for/claimed the pension benefit
- supplement findings from the 3rd party interviews with user research sessions focused on usability, ideally using screen sharing or some other means beyond audio only sessions
- continue to collaborate with willing partners (like councils) to gain insights from campaigns and related initiatives around increasing awareness and uptake of pension credit, including practical steps like improvements to applications
8. Iterate and improve frequently
Decision
The service met point 8 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- the team established a twice weekly release cadence, which has resulted in more than 25 releases to the service since the beta launch
- the team were able to provide numerous examples of where design evolved to better accommodate needs
- there is a dedicated analyst using Google Analytics (GA) to gain insights around service usage, and she’s worked to relate data available in GA with feedback gleaned from the sessions with users
- the team iterates, based on inputs from sources like GA and app data, and use information from phone sessions to inform and prioritise the backlog
- the team continues to work with GOV.UK to improve guidance around the service, noting efforts to reduce the amount of ineligible claimants that apply
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- aim to test their assumptions for each significant user group
- continue to iterate the ‘what you may get’ information to clarify and set expectations for users
12. Make new source code open
Decision
The service met point 12 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- The team has made the relevant repos public