Government services – designed for everyone

People use government services because they have to use them. We do not have the option to shop around for alternatives that are cheaper or easier to use. Public services must then work for everyone.

In Week 1, we learned that different types of users have different requirements when it comes to meeting the single user need involved in completing a task, such as paying vehicle tax. This happens for a number of reasons – some users struggle with online services so need a non-digital option, while other users are disabled or have impairments that mean they need modified forms of access to services or additional support when using them.

There are other barriers to access, such as language barriers or a lack of internet connection, which we will learn more about later this week.

For everyone to use a service, it must be designed to be:

• inclusive – the habit or policy of including all types of people, and
• accessible – the quality of being easily reached, entered, or used by people who have an impairment or access need.

This should be true in any organisation, but it is especially important in government – it is essential that we make our services, information, and communications in general, as inclusive and accessible as possible.

Making things accessible is the right thing to do. It means equity, or everybody being brought up to the same level of opportunity. Accessibility empowers disabled people to live independently, as they do not need to rely on other people to help them navigate through services.

Making services accessible during design, development, and build is much cheaper than trying to make a service accessible after it has gone live and people are starting to use it. Accessible services also tend to be less complicated, and have better usability in general, which makes the service easier to use for everyone, not only people with disabilities.

An easy way of understanding this is to think about an access ramp to a building instead of a staircase or audible stop announcements on public transport. These are small changes that can make life easier for everyone.

Starting with accessibility also means that more people will be able to use your service immediately. This should lead to fewer support requests and complaints about inaccessible content, or the discovery of other problems with the service that could have been fixed sooner.

Making a service inclusive and accessible to everyone must start with inclusive user research. You need to learn about all users.

The importance of inclusive user research

Users come from all sorts of demographics, and people have different needs and requirements that must be met. When building digital services, it is important that you include disabled users, and those who need support to use your service.

Accessibility for everyone can sometimes be difficult to achieve. People can have conflicting requirements, and there will be situations that are overlooked due to us being unaware of them.

Difficulty, however, is not an excuse to not try – you need to include everyone. There are no alternatives for many public services, and users not being able to access a service, for whatever reason, can have serious consequences.

As a user researcher in government, your job is central to the development of services that work for everyone. This means that you need to conduct user research with a wide range of users to discover all the different needs, challenges, and barriers that they face.

These can include, but are not limited to:

• a lack of digital skills
• language or literacy barriers
• disabilities, impairments, or health conditions
• limited time, finance (e.g. paying for wifi or mobile data), confidence, or access to technology (especially in rural areas)
• poor service design

These challenges are often not immediately obvious, but thorough user research will allow you to identify them, and build a service that works for everyone.