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claiming benefits online ... exemplar projects
came across this yesterday .... claiming PIP, CA and UC online are 3 of a series of 25 ‘exemplar’ projects that the govt is planning to ‘make simpler, clearer and faster to use’.
All are supposed to meet the Digital By Default Service Standard by April 2014 and be completed by March 2015 ..
Whilst CA seems to be ahead of schedule -
‘Service goes live (depending on user feedback) — Oct to Dec 2014’
... in relation to PIP the Govt Digital Service are saying -
‘Discovery phase complete with work on the alpha ready to begin. Further work on the Personal Independence Payment exemplar has been aligned with the delivery of managed reassessment for claimants that begins in October 2015.’
.. and UC -
‘Release of digital strategic solution dependent on overall Universal Credit programme plan — date tbc’
The full list of exemplars are @ https://www.gov.uk/transformation
also ... not new but worth reminding ourselves ...
People who are digitally excluded -
Being able to go online does not mean that people have the basic digital capability to use the internet to do things that benefit them day to day. According to the BBC Media Literacy study, 21% of people can’t use the web. 14% of people don’t have internet access at all, so 7% do have internet access but don’t use it in ways that benefit them day to day.
This is a higher figure than the 18% referred to in the GDS Digital Landscape Research published in November 2012, but it reflects our growing understanding of what it means to be digitally excluded.
Vulnerable and disadvantaged groups -
Digital exclusion affects some of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged groups in society:
- those in social housing - 37% of those who are digitally excluded are social housing tenants
- those on lower wages, or unemployed - 17% of people earning less than £20,000 never use the internet, as opposed to 2% of people earning more than than £40,000. 44% of people without basic digital skills are on lower wages or are unemployed
- those with disabilities - 33% of people with registered disabilities have never used the internet. This is 54% of the total number of people who have never used the internet
- older people - over 53% of people who lack basic digital skills are aged over 65, and 69% are over 55
- young people - 6% of people who lack digital skills are between 15 and 24 years. Only 27% of young people who are offline are in full-time employment