Local authority services online: general trends and developments

1. betterconnected.socitm.net
@btrconnected
betterconnected.socitm.net @btrconnected
Director, Better Connected
programme
Vicky Sargent
Local digital: trends and developments

2. betterconnected.socitm.net
@btrconnected
Today’s presentation
• About Better Connected
• Wider digital context:
- Shift to mobile
- Growth of customer accounts
- Social media, engagement, communities
- Digital exclusion

3. betterconnected.socitm.net
@btrconnected
About Better Connected • Been going since 1999
• Surveys all UK council
websites every year
• Tests tasks: 'pay council
tax, find out 'how to apply
for social housing'
• Team of professional
reviewers use structured
questionnaire
• Also test access from
mobiles, navigation, search
and A-Z, and accessibility
• Sites ranked from 1-4 stars
on aggregation of survey
results
• Headline results and all
service reports free-to-view
Betterconnected.socitm.net

4. betterconnected.socitm.net
@btrconnected
Service reports
• We no longer assess 'the council
website', but principally a set of
services
• Services now get star ratings and
their own report
• Web managers say this has
stimulated better conversations
about improvement
• Services teams specify and
procure the software that
customers use online
• Service teams largely determine
the customer journey and quality
of information that is provided

5. betterconnected.socitm.net
@btrconnected
Council web pages • Every council has its own
web pages for results
• Pages also provide digital
context: population,
deprivation, digital
exclusion
• We’ve just linked to the
digital exclusion heatmap
• We provide information
about web visits and Twitter
followers
• We are keen to add more
relevant open data
• Headline results are free to
anyone to view
• Employees of Socitm
subscribing organisations
can see detailed results and
commentary from reviewers

6. betterconnected.socitm.net
@btrconnected
Results page: renew
library book task
• Scores for every
question asked are
provided
• Scoring system is
clear and transparent
• All reviewer
comments during and
after survey are fed
back
• There is a right to
reply via comment
box

7. betterconnected.socitm.net
@btrconnected
Service area Task 3&4 stars
Rubbish & recycling Find out opening times for council tip 78%
Schools/youth Apply for secondary school place 78%
Leisure Find out about keeping fit 72%
Parking Pay parking fine 71%
Council tax Pay council tax 62%
Housing Find out how to apply for housing 58%
Transport & buses Apply for older person's bus pass 48%
Libraries Renew a library book 45%
Rubbish & recycling Report missed bin 41%
Schools/youth Apply for primary school place 41%
Planning Object to a planning application 34%
Business Register food business 22%
Performance of different services BC2015-16

8. betterconnected.socitm.net
@btrconnected
Wider digital context: shift to mobile
No %
4 star 170 41
3 star 111 27
2 star 24 6
1 star 27 6
0 star* 84 20
416 100
* these sites are not purposed for mobile
Access from mobiles
• 80% have websites purposed
for mobile
• Up from 26% in 2014
• 68% of sites provide a good or
very good experience
• Sites not purposed for mobile
lost a star rank

9. betterconnected.socitm.net
@btrconnected
Wider digital context: growth of
customer accounts
• Better Connected Digital Management survey in 2015 found:
• 34% of councils with a corporate ‘my account’
• 36% planning to introduce one
• 30% without one
• We will be repeating the survey this year
• Only 11 councils responding to our 2015 survey had takeup by
households > 10%
• In 2015-16 we find evidence of councils ‘forcing’ take up
• How will customer accounts be affected by GDS initiatives like
Verify?
• Do customers want a ‘single view’ of their dealings with the council?

10. betterconnected.socitm.net
@btrconnected
Wider digital context: social media, engagement,
communities
2015 report concludes:
• If an organisation’s leaders
support social media, this gives
the rest of the staff the
confidence to embrace it
• There is scope to diversify the
range of social media platforms
councils are using – to
embrace newer platforms such
as WhatsApp and Instagram –
these are platforms their
citizens are engaging with

11. betterconnected.socitm.net
@btrconnected
Wider digital context: social media, engagement,
communities
• Better connected has covered social media since our well known report ‘Twitter
Gritters’
• Back then, the issue was anxiety about bandwidth and inappropriate use
• Better Connected digital engagement survey looks at social media activity as well
as more direct engagement through email alert sign ups at corporate and service
level
• We will repeat this survey this year
• Links to wider initiatives to support/encourage digitally-enabled and networked
communities within individual service like libraries and social care

12. betterconnected.socitm.net
@btrconnected
Wider digital context: digital exclusion
• Exclusion must be a big part of the conversation about local digital
• See links to Digital Exclusion Heatmap from betterconnected.socitm.net
• Hence the involvement of Tinder Foundation and Doteveryone in Better
Connected Live
• What proportion of users of of this services are digitally excluded?
• What are key digital opportunities for users of this service?