Digital Services: Expert Overview - August 2024

UK services are increasingly digitised, with the aim of making services quicker, more affordable and more effective. Yet as digitisation continues people who experience digital exclusion are having their lives impacted in new ways, in turn exacerbating inequalities and negatively impacting our economy. Non-digital services are becoming harder to use, quality is worsening, and sometimes it is, or feels impossible, to engage offline. Increasingly digitised services do not offer a replacement route or service, and the rights of people offline are increasingly degraded as a result.

Research shows that almost 40% of UK adults are not registered on the NHS app, and banking takes 1.5 hours longer without an internet connection (Digital Nation, 2024). In 2023 the Centre for Social Justice found that on average, consumers without access to the internet paid 25% more across different transactions than online users. Capitalising on the momentum since the Covid-19 pandemic to put data, digital, and tech at the heart of services necessitates that we get the basics right - avoiding ‘digital by default’ and designing inclusive services that are accessible for - and trusted by - everyone. Increasing the numbers of citizens able and willing to use online public services provides better services, increases efficiencies, and reduces cost. 

Digital services, and access to them, have associations all parts of the ‘pointless triangle’ coined by Kat Dixon, during her Fellowship of the Data Poverty Lab:

For a comprehensive overview of the main UK datasets on digital inclusion, see Digital Inclusion: What the main UK datasets tell us, a collaboration with Lloyds Banking Group, Nominet and the University of Liverpool.

The UK Government’s Government Digital Service (GDS) developed and implemented a ‘Digital by Default‘ agenda in 2012. Digital by Default aimed to transform public services online and make them more cost-effective for the taxpayer and more efficient for the Government. It was seen as a proactive approach to getting people online and, in the context of the agenda, the UK Government developed their Government Service Standard to ensure digital services were built to the needs of their users. The Standard was last updated in 2021.

Central government departments spend around £400 billion each year on the day-to-day running costs of public services, grants and administration. Delivering more of this online and to more people is an opportunity for efficiency savings, as well as improving the quality of the services for citizens.

The new Government has a mission-led approach to grow the economy, and to harness the talents of all people to unlock growth and break down the barriers to opportunity. The Department of Science, Innovation and Technology has three priorities which include: 

• “Use technology for good by ensuring that new and existing technologies are safely developed and deployed across the U.K, with the benefits more widely shared.
• Drive forward a modern digital government which gives citizens a more satisfying experience and their time back.”

Government Ministers are clear in their commitment to improving public services. 

Technology is seen to be a significant underpinning of all of the five missions. This can be seen in some of the investments from DSIT since the election:

• £32 million to back almost 100 projects developing the use of AI, led by businesses and research institutions, including supporting improved public services.
• £100 million for five new research hubs to develop practical use of quantum technology in areas like medical scanners, secure communication networks, and next-generation positioning systems.
• £8 million Government contribution to a public-private-philanthropic co-funding to keep the world-leading BioBank facility at the forefront of medical research to enable medical breakthroughs, from detecting cardiac disease earlier, to developing tests for Alzheimer’s. 

The UK Government has a Service Manual for all digitised central government public services which states: “You must make sure everyone who needs your service can use it. Sometimes users will need help to use your service online. This is known as ‘assisted digital support‘.” Any user may need assisted digital support, if “they lack:

• trust in your service or the internet
• confidence to use an online service themselves
• access to the internet
• digital skills
• motivation to overcome these barriers on their own.”

(This element of the UK Government Service Manual was last updated in August 2018; a review and any necessary updating is essential.)

The Scottish Government and Digital Scotland have also developed the Scottish Approach to Service Design. In Wales, the Centre for Digital Public Services sets and monitors the Digital Service Standards (Wales) for new or redesigned services funded by Welsh public sector organisations. 

Over the past decade, the concept has evolved to describe wide-ranging solutions for wholly or partially digitised services. These include: phone helplines; in-person support; webchat assistance; click and print services; digital skills services, et al.

As part of Assisted Digital, the UK Government has also increasingly encouraged user research to ensure everyone that needs the service can use it, especially groups with different accessibility needs - such as older people, and people experiencing disabilities and longer term health conditions.

Legislation such as the Equality Act 2010, and regulatory guidance and responsibilities (especially where relevant to ‘vulnerable customers’ and ‘fair treatment’) are highly relevant to digital service design, delivery, and assisted digital / digital support - and to the rights of people who are offline. 

The Financial Conduct Authority Consumer Duty came into force for open products and services in 2023. It requires firms to act to deliver good outcomes for retail customers, and continuously address issues that risk causing consumer harm. Previous FCA Guidance for Firms on Fair Treatment of Vulnerable Customers identified: health, life events, resilience, and capability as the four drivers of ‘vulnerability’. Under ‘Capability’, no or low digital skills are listed alongside difficulties in managing money, literacy, numeracy, English language, and - importantly - no or low access to help or support. The FCA Consumer Duty does not require firms to always provide support to customers via multiple different channels but: “Firms should however provide support that meets the needs of their customer base and target market” and “should respond flexibly to the needs of customers in vulnerable circumstances and adhere to the general principle that it should be at least as easy to exit a product or service as it is to enter it.”

In January 2024, the Older People’s Commissioner for Wales published a report on digital exclusion, Access Denied: Older people’s experiences of digital exclusion in Wales. The report makes a number of recommendations for Welsh Government, UK Government and public bodies: 

“... ensuring that:

• Public bodies are meeting their duties under the Equality Act 2010 and other relevant legislation. 
• Policies and strategies are delivering the action promised and that this is reflected in older people’s experiences. 
• Digital exclusion is central to discussions relating to the design and delivery of services. 
• The voices of older people who are not online or who have limited digital skills are heard and responded to. 
• Further practical action is taken to ensure the availability of non-digital information and services in community spaces, and to support older people to get and stay online if they wish to and use the internet securely and confidently.”

The Commissioner also made recommendations for the private sector focused on:

“... ensuring that: 

• Customers who are not online receive equivalent levels of service to those who are. 
• Approaches to digitalisation fully meet regulatory guidance on protecting vulnerable customers. 
• Additional support is provided to customers who are digitally excluded, or find themselves in vulnerable situations, including support with costs.”

This summer, Which? Reported that over 6,000 banks and building societies have closed branches since January 2015 - at a rate of around 53 each month; this represents more than 60% of the branches that were open at the start of 2015 (Which?, 2024).

The Future of Payments Review report (2023), recommended that “HM Treasury and the FCA regularly assess whether digital exclusion is driving financial exclusion more broadly and market developments in this area. To avoid duplication, this could form part of the FCA’s financial lives survey.”

Banks and building societies in our high streets provide advice and support on complex financial services, such as mortgages and loans, as well as for crises, such as severe debt. The Access to Cash Review in 2019, investigated the evidence and the impact, on the most vulnerable who depend on cash, as well as those in rural areas with poor connectivity and people who lack digital skills and access. It concluded that 8 million adults would struggle in a cashless society. This review led to the establishment of Banking Hubs, created by leading banks and managed and coordinated by Cash Access UK; there are due to be 100 banking hubs by the end of 2024. Alongside this, a new Act gives the Financial Conduct Authority responsibility for overseeing the maintenance of a well-functioning cash system; the Act received Royal Assent on 29 June 2023.

The financial services sector has digitised its offers significantly over the past decade. Lloyd Banking Group has 21 million customers who bank with them online and 17 million choose to do their banking predominantly using their mobile app. Their mobile app deploys in-app messaging that is using AI to improve the quality and speed of service. They, like other banks, are deploying video calling for face to face online sessions with advisors, and are innovating with face-to-face services such as through kiosks, community based bank staff, and vans.

Digitisation of access to healthcare and the use of digital technologies to enable innovative approaches (e.g. virtual wards, remote monitoring) continues to grow.

Health is primarily a devolved power, and there are significant differences in the pace, nature, and extent of digitisation of health and social care services between UK nations. Digitisation is most widespread in England, where promoting the NHS App as the ‘digital front door’ for primary care and for communication with NHS England services is well underway - with targets set for GPs for the proportion of people registered on the NHS App. NHS Wales has recently launched the NHS Wales App (login via NHS England). In Scotland, NHS 24 Online App offers a chatbot to assess symptoms and a ‘find your nearest’ service. Health and Social Care Northern Ireland does not have an equivalent.  

The complex landscape of health providers and funding makes digital service design and delivery more challenging. Commitments to maintaining non-digital channels are in place, but not always experienced as such in communities. A recent report from the Older People’s Commissioner for Wales, Access to GP Practices in Wales, heard that over two-thirds of older people found it difficult to make appointments and communicate with their GP, whether online or by phone. Ensuring older people are not digitally excluded from accessing GP practices was a key recommendation for GP Practices, health boards, Welsh Government and the UK Government. 

In England, NHS England published Inclusive Digital Healthcare: A Framework for NHS Action on Digital Inclusion in 2023. This reflected the requirement for NHS England and Integrated Care Boards to consider their statutory duties on how to reduce inequalities in access to and outcomes from health services (Health and Care Act 2022; NHS Act 2006). For example, addressing the barriers to digital health faced by some groups. The NHS England framework has five domains for action:

• Access to devices and data connectivity
• Accessibility and ease of using technology
• Skills and capability (among the public and NHS staff)
• Beliefs and trust (among the public and NHS staff)
• Leadership and partnerships.

The framework recognises that: human-centred design is essential for inclusive digital approaches; non-digital healthcare and access need to be maintained (for choice and parity); that some groups face a higher risk of being digitally excluded - and that these groups also generally face a higher risk of health inequalities. While recognising that digital inclusion is a ‘whole-of-society’ issue which needs collaboration, it is still not clear what responsibility the NHS has for digital inclusion (resourcing, signposting, provision, monitoring, etc). This may contribute to a tendency to support pilots rather than pursuing a more strategic and systemic approach.

There is strong recognition that digital and online service design needs to be inclusive and accessible, and some recognition that accessibility includes but is wider than ensuring access by people with an impairment, disability or life-impacting condition. There is useful guidance (e.g. NHS User Centred Design maturity model), but limited levers and resources to monitor or enforce.

In 2018, UK’s GDS introduced the Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations (Website and Mobile Applications) to focus on ensuring public sector digital services were accessible to people with disabilities. The regulations work in conjunction with the Equality and Human Rights Commission in Great Britain and the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland to enforce compliance - they have the authority to take action against organisations that fail to meet the required standards for website and mobile applications. 

The former Government pledged that by 2025, at least 50 of their top 75 identified services would move to a ‘great’ standard - including compliance with the Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations. It is assumed that the new Government will want to keep to this level of standard, or better it.

Concepts of ‘inclusive design’ and ‘fair by design’ include disability-related accessibility standards, but also extend beyond these (see Inclusive Design Regulators Guide from Fair By Design and Money Advice Trust). 

“Inclusive design is a methodology that involves understanding the range of customer needs and designing products and services to be accessible and benefit as many customers as possible” (FCA Final non-Handbook Guidance for firms on the Consumer Duty 2022; the FCA does not require firms to follow an inclusive design approach.)

Inclusive design of an online service should engage with people who may have low digital confidence, and consider basic digital inclusion needs and barriers, such as: 

• What sort of device someone needs to use an app or online service (e.g. how new it has to be to download and run an app)
• How much data connectivity is needed to use an app or online service
• What level of digital skills (also other literacies and understanding) is needed.

The recent DWP report on “Digital Skills, Channels and Access Preferences: DWP Customers” (March 2024) highlights the tensions for providers of universal services between meeting the needs of digitally confident customers at the same time as meeting the needs of people with lower digital confidence and access:

“Typically, the majority of customers preferred to access the internet via a smartphone. A range of different devices were favoured by different customer groups, with older customers more likely to engage with tablets. If future DWP digital services were compatible with a range of different devices, it could lead to higher take up amongst all DWP customers. The report also highlights that Apps would engage younger customers and those with higher levels of digital skills. It is therefore worth DWP considering whether offering services via an App is viable.”

The same report finds:

“There is an opportunity for DWP to potentially signpost customers to other digital channels but with appropriate support going forward. But DWP should also be mindful that not all customers will want to engage digitally nor have internet access at home. Therefore, future service design should be reflective that a variety of channels are needed and ensure alternative non-digital options remain available to those who most need them.”

The GDS announced their ‘GOV.UK One Login’ initiative in 2021 to enable citizens to use a single set of credentials to log into multiple UK Government services.

Though simplifying and securing access to many, One Login presents some challenges for those experiencing digital exclusion. This includes use of multi-factor authentication which enhances security but requires a certain level of digital skills and access; trust in centralised online public services - including privacy and data protection concerns; and challenges around accessible design (for disabled people, people with long-term health conditions) and inclusive design more broadly (see section above).

National and local service providers (e.g. local authorities; providers of information, advice and guidance; support services; housing associations) have been developing digital services for years. As in other sectors, this has accelerated - both through necessity (rising demand and costs, with reduced funding) and improvements in data and digital technologies. Many providers grapple with the same challenge: how to increase customer self-service; reduce demand on face-to-face, text, and phoneline services; while also building and retaining customer trust and parity of experience. This is hardest where providers serve diverse and disadvantaged populations. There is also mounting frustration from people who feel pressured to go online; and risks that people who need support may not ask for help they are entitled to, or until it is too late. 

There are positive examples of organisations collaborating to balance different needs and provide a good customer experience. For example, working together to deliver information and advice helplines, triaging enquiries to make referrals, and co-locating support in local hubs (e.g. libraries, community centres, digital inclusion hubs, GP hubs).  Some Government Departments commission and contract with businesses (such as We Are Group) to provide digital support. Often, the responsibility for responding to digital support requests from local residents falls to local VCSE organisations, community and public libraries. For example, research into the role of libraries in digital inclusion in England found that many libraries were increasingly seen and acting as the ‘frontline’ of a council’s customer service team - with requests not limited to support with council services.

Organisations, such as Age UK, are campaigning to keep alternative channels to public services available; for Age UK, this is focused on older people’s use of public services. 

When thinking about ‘assisted digital’ the type of choice of channel and for whom are primary considerations. Would provision in local hubs to help older people use online services be sufficient? Age UK’s report notes that some older people may yet prefer a paper form to an online form. While local hubs could replicate the face-to-face support required in enabling people to use digital services (as in Italy’s PAAS centres below), it would be difficult to replicate in-home independent use of paper-based services. 

Digital Health Hubs, UK

The concept of co-locating support and/or using existing community based assets (such as community centres, libraries, village halls) to provide trusted, friendly support inspired the development of ‘digital health hubs’ in the NHS Digital/NHS England funded programme, ‘Widening Digital Participation in Health’. It has been successfully piloted and scaled by 100% Digital Leeds, and elsewhere. Digital health hubs are local places where people can get support which enables them to engage online for their health, wellbeing, and to access healthcare services. Often, this is just one part of a wider service/support offer to the community (or specific groups). An evaluation of a number of ‘digital health hubs’ found positive results in: reducing social isolation; overcoming fears and barriers to engaging online; helping people to learn how to find trustworthy health information online as well as to access primary care / other support. There were also benefits in building relationships with other local organisations.  

PAAS (Assisted Access Points to Online Services and the Internet), Italy

PAAS centres in Tuscany, Italy, provide a structured, regulated approach to digital inclusion, particularly for disadvantaged groups. PAAS centres offer free assisted access to online services, digital literacy training, and e-government services, particularly targeting those who are digitally excluded. By ensuring high service quality and offering targeted assistance, PAAS centres effectively reduce digital barriers for marginalised groups. In Tuscany, 192 municipalities have opened 298 Assisted Access Points.  

They are located in different types of structures and attract different user types. Assisted Access Points can be found in clubs, libraries, senior citizen centres, youth centres, in public welfare and charity offices, others in local promotional centres and in council offices. These different locations characterise the different user types that visit Assisted Access Points, but also the range of services on offer. Assisted Access Points are characterised by the social context in which they exist. Through initiatives and activities which promote their social importance, Assisted Access Points also support the development of the local community, creating conditions that foster inclusive participation. Senior citizens, young people, migrants, tourists and citizens, each with their different needs, can all find in their local PAAS help to identify the solutions they need. Assisted Access Points provide a door onto the local community and support integration, as well as being a tool for knowledge and contact with local government.

The UK could adopt a similar model to provide structured, accessible points for online service access paired with digital inclusion support (skills and access) across the country, particularly in areas with high levels of digital exclusion. This is a model of utilising investment in digitisation of services and supporting citizens to use those services if they have a lack of personal access or basic digital skills or both. 

Online Census 2021: Census Support Centres, UK

In England and Wales the 2021 Census was designed as “Digital First”. In its design, from a digital inclusivity perspective, meant providing:

• a user-friendly, accessible, respondent journey
• paper questionnaires via an appropriate means for those who needed them
• support via Census Support Centres
• on the doorstep
• via a contact centre.

Good Things Foundation coordinated the Census Support Centres providing people a friendly and local venue to go to where they could complete their census return online with help at hand.

Estonia

e-Estonia remains a global front-runner of digitisation, having delivered on a whole-Government approach to digital service delivery from 2010. The country invested heavily in digital infrastructure with the aim of transforming itself into a technology-driven nation state and overcoming economic challenges post-independence.

The pioneering aspect of its model is e-Estonia’s secure, decentralised digital identity system - allowing citizens to access an array of services, including voting, banking, healthcare, education, employment, and citizens’ taxes returns, online. Almost 100% of Estonia’s Government services are available online, 24/7, from anywhere in the world. Estonia has one of the highest rates of internet freedom and it continues to deliver a strong digital economy.

To ensure the project's success, Estonia delivered digital literacy programmes (including it's Tiger Leap initiative, which supported children's digital skills from 1996); it prioritised universal internet access; implemented accessibility standards; and targeted support for groups more likely to experience digital exclusion such as older adults, lower income families, and global majority communities through an e-Inclusion strategy.

The UK Government could set an ambitious vision to end Digital Exclusion by 2035 (within a decade) for both access and skills; with some digital services (especially NHS, government and other public services) needing to provide alternative support for people who can’t use them (reasonable adjustments, vulnerable customers).

There is scope to draw on existing frameworks and metrics, as well as developing new metrics, to agree a core set which can be used widely to track progress at UK, devolved, regional and local levels.

[Update January 2025: Collaboration on core metrics is now underway building on this briefing on UK datasets on digital inclusion.]