The Department for Work and Pensions commissioned research body and think tank RAND Europe to conduct a detailed study of the impact of digital services on the administration of benefits
A research report from the Department for Work and Pensions has warned that increased use of digital services in the administration of the UK’s welfare system “may lead to more inequality”.
The study – conducted by think rank and research outfit RAND Europe, under commission from the DWP – sought to explore the impact of “digitalisation” in four areas, respectively covering: costs and savings; customer experience; the effects on society at large; and the ramifications of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The report distinguishes ‘digitalisation’ from the more commonly used ‘digitisation’, with the latter used to described the process of converting analogue or manual processes to digital delivery, and the former describing ongoing changes or upgrades to existing digital processes, such as via the use of apps or automation. The study further characterises ‘digital transformation’ as representing broader organisational reform.
The primary societal impact identified by the research is the possibility that “digitalisation processes may lead to more inequality”.
The study notes that “if the transition to a digital channel is not managed correctly, the change can lead to significant errors and can contribute to decreased equity among users through contributing to debt, mental and physical health issues and social exclusion”.
The report cites evidence from “one study focused on the digitalisation of primary health care [that found] older people became less engaged in the service”.
Researchers also found that issues related to the potential widening of the digital exclusion gap “became more pronounced in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic”.
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The DWP – and any other organisations engaged in administering benefits – are thus urged to ensure that technology transformation programmes are accompanied by work focused on inclusion.
“While digitalising their services, organisations should ensure that vulnerable populations are spared from negative effects, including accessibility issues related to either the service or the internet and its supporting technology,” the report says.
While digitalisation can provide organisations with savings – particularly in relation to staff costs – it is “currently difficult to gather accurate estimates of the costs involved and savings generated”, the study finds.
Moreover, any “gains may be offset by increased demand spurred by digitalisation”, and may also be compounded as “digitalisation is prone to technical difficulties… [the] failure to achieve expected, pre-defined outcomes [and] is associated with unforeseen costs”.
The DWP report concludes that “despite interest in the use of advanced digital technologies in service delivery, digitalisation is occurring across a narrow set of public services and is often limited to simple transactional tasks rather than the delivery of more-complex services”.
To protect the quality of customer experience and ensure uptake of digital options, the research recommends various measures, including “guaranteeing customers that non-digital options are available, launching marketing or educational campaigns, and creating engagement teams were found to be successful”.
When designing digital services, organisations are also encouraged to pay “careful attention to: preferences and abilities among and within population segments, including preferences regarding privacy concerns and accountability; aesthetic experience; usefulness and ease of use; [and] context – if digital services increase burden for consumers or if they replace services that require urgent or very personal or emotional attention, they will fail to replace in-person services”.
In a summary of the report published online, the DWP said that “the evidence collected through this review can be used to inform strategic and operational decisions around the design of DWP digital services” in the future.
