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https://dataingovernment.blog.gov.uk/civil-claims-accelerated-possession-service-assessment/

Civil Claims (Accelerated Possession) - Service Assessment

Civil Claims allows the public to solve a wide range civil legal disputes. Civil Claims can be applied to numerous scenarios - from disputes with a neighbour to personal injury - but are predominantly used when trying to obtain money or property owed. One of the many claims available to the public is the accelerated possession claim.

Accelerated property possession is used when people refuse to leave a property and have been given the appropriate notice to leave. They are used when a tenant won’t leave a property. The landlord cannot use this service to claim any money owed. Instead the court will tell the tenant they must leave.

This accelerated possession service is the start of making all civil claims digital-by-default.

https://www.gov.uk/transformation/court-claims

Department / Agency:
MoJ / HMCTS

Date of Original Assessment:
15/7/2014

Date of submission of additional evidence:
8/8/2014

Assessment stage:
Live

Result following additional evidence:
Pass

Lead Assessor:
H. Garrett

Service Manager:
E. Fineberg

Digital Leader:
M. Coats


Service assessment team update following submission of additional evidence

The original assessment of the Civil Claims (Accelerated Possession) service identified several areas where further work was needed to be able to fully meet the requirements of the service standard, and for the service to move to Live.

Following the assessment the team worked with GDS to address these areas and submit further evidence to support this development. Following consideration of this evidence the Lead Assessor is content for this phase of the Civil Claims (Accelerated Possession) service to move to live.

Summary

The commitment that the team demonstrated in the original assessment continued to be demonstrated through their focus on quickly addressing the requirements from the original assessment and making the necessary changes.

The team plan to continue to develop the current service and over time add additional products and features. When a payment mechanism and further developments are made to the accelerated claims service, these should return to GDS for assessment. The panel will expect to the team to be able to discuss user satisfaction results and to be assured that following the changes made to the method of collection that a sufficient level of feedback is being received.


Original Assessment Report

The Civil Claims (Accelerated Possession) service is seeking permission to be branded a Live Digital by Default service on the service.gov.uk domain.

Outcome of service assessment

After completing our assessment the assessment panel have concluded the Civil Claims (Accelerated Possession service is on track to remove beta branding and launch on a service.gov.uk domain as a Live Digital by Default service. The service should go through a short reassessment once the issues detailed below have been addressed.

Reasons

The assessment panel were really impressed with the way in which the service has been built to meet user needs, and the agile way in which the team is continuing to improve the service based on user research and data.

The strong multidisciplinary team will remain in place throughout the next phase of development and the appropriate safety and security measures are in place.

The assessment panel were also impressed to see the evidence based approach to iterating the beta service with data analysis embedded into the team allowing the data gathered through the funnels set up to measure drop off points and potential problems.

The service manager has a good appreciation of the service’s assisted digital users and has put in place appropriate support to meet the specific needs of those users for this low volume service. Assisted digital users are considered to be an integral part of the full user base, not a bolt on, and they are treated no differently in terms of service delivery. The service has tested assisted digital support during the beta and is iterating it according to feedback from providers.

Recommendations from initial assessment:

  • The assessment panel would like to see a greater number of transactions through the beta service from real-world users. Currently a low percentage of transactions have been completed; a bigger sample would help the team be more confident of the behaviour of different user groups in more significant volumes
  • Plan with GDS for the phasing out of existing channels as digital take up increases to ensure the cost per transaction is reduced
  • Plans, which are already in progress, to integrate with the performance platform should be completed before the service is branded as live
  • The issues with the way that user satisfaction is currently being measured should be addressed. So far, of the users who have completed the form, only a few pieces of feedback and ratings have been submitted. The service team should work with GDS to look at other ways of collecting this data
  • The footer links should be specific to the service (rather than linking to GOV.UK policies and standards)
  • The cookies content and terms and conditions should be reviewed to ensure they are accurate

Recommendations

Ensure that assisted digital support is provided at appropriate times when users have access to the digital service. This will enable the user to build their digital skills and recognises any time sensitivities they may have.

Build on processes to measure assisted digital support, to encourage full and frank user feedback on both their satisfaction with the service and their ability to complete the service independently in future.

Conduct further research with assisted digital users who are unable to use or access the online service, rather than users who are attempting but struggling to use the online service, and are therefore more relevant to digital inclusion or channel shift strategies.

Summary

The assessment panel would like to thank the service team for their well-informed and detailed answers during the assessment.


Digital by Default Service Standard criteria

Criteria Passed Criteria Passed
1 Yes 2 Yes
3 Yes 4 Yes
5 Yes 6 Yes
7 Yes 8 Yes
9 Yes 10 Yes
11 Yes 12 Yes
13 Yes 14 Yes
15 Yes 16 Yes
17 Yes 18 Yes
19 Yes 20 Yes
21 Yes 22 Yes
23 Yes 24 Yes
25 Yes 26 Yes