The Government Service Standard

In government, we have a strong mandate to do regular user research.

Apart from the fact that user research saves us time and money in the long run by doing the right thing, we’re also required by our Service Standard to meet user needs.

This updated version of the standard was published in 2019, but it was first introduced back in 2014 to help government build and run effective, user-focused digital services.

All public-facing transactional services must meet this standard.

Departments across central and local government use it to assess whether a service is good enough for public use. The standard covers the policy and the operational aspects of a service, clarifying what teams need to do to build better services for citizens and why this is important. You can read in detail about each of the 14 points on GOV.UK.

It is the first section that is most important for user researchers – points 1 through 5 are all about meeting the needs of our users.

We always start with users – the very first point is Understand users and their needs.

This tells us that we should:

• develop a deep understanding of users and the problem we’re trying to solve for them
• look at the full context to understand what the user is trying to achieve, not just the part where they have to interact with government

Though user research occurs throughout all stages of the building process, it is particularly important in the discovery phase because it gives us crucial insights. Understanding as much of the context as possible gives you the best chance of meeting the needs of your users in a simple and cost effective way.

User research and the service standard

In Step 2.1, we explained what government services are and how they should be for the user. That description – services that are complementary, scoped to the user, and simple to use – corresponds to points 2, 3 and 4 of the standard.

Solving a whole problem (point 2) means that the service meets the user need in its entirety and the user does not need to go elsewhere. Different teams, sometimes across government, need to work together to create a service that allows the user to solve their problem.

Users should not have to know the inner workings of government to meet their need. Instead of putting the responsibility on the user to know which specific department or office they need to go to for each stage of the process, the service should make that pathway clear and easy to follow.

Similarly, providing a joined up experience across all channels (point 3), means that no matter how users access the service (online, by phone, in person, by post), everyone is able to meet their need. Making things digital should not come at the expense of those users who are unable to access or use certain bits of technology.

Making the service simple to use (point 4) means making the service simple, intuitive and comprehensible – users should not be challenged by or struggle with any part of the process. It also costs the government time and money to deal with mistakes that occur when services do not work well. It benefits everyone for services to be simple and functional.

Making sure everyone can use the service (point 5) is a key responsibility of user research. We carry out research with participants who represent the potential audience for the service, including people with access needs, to ensure that people are not excluded from being able to use the service because they lack digital skills or internet access.

These Standards are not just guidelines – they are requirements that every service must meet.