The number of people who go to Council websites to transact business is presently low (12% SOCITM), however some Council’s are far exceeding this. Meanwhile some councils have already managed to deliver digital migration significantly above this 12% level. Case studies demonstrate that some deliver large savings on the back of this (c. £1 million for one service alone at Leicester City Council).

Councils have to date tended to migrate services in four areas:

• Simple payment opportunities - particularly Council Tax, Rent, Business rates and parking fines.

• Service requests particularly around street scene and environmental services such as - vehicles, enviro-crime and graffiti.

• Applications for entitlements – e.g. School places, parking permits and housing – including bidding through choice based system

• Online forms that replicate paper based forms

From our analysis of other Council’s web offerings, a number of examples of what a well exploited website can deliver have emerged:

• Leicester City is getting 85% of its job applications online

• 58% of Bristol City parents who applied for school places for 2007 did so via the web

• In South Oxfordshire DC, 55% of applicants for new recycling bins ordered online

• Walsall Council received more than 50% of planning applications online in February 2007

• Over 70% of choice-based letting bids received by Warwick DC come through the web

• Westminster City is receiving 60% of parking revenue in two pilot areas through its pay-by phone scheme

• Key (high use) tasks that can be carried out on the site should be prominent – e.g. Brent’s ‘Report it, Pay it, Say it, Find it’

• Online transaction link should be present on all pages

• A box on the left hand side seems the most prominent option (West Lancashire DC)

• Certain popular services (e.g. Council jobs) can provide a key lever to draw people onto the site (Leicester City Council)

• Information pages should link to opportunities to transact business

• A tight control over both the look and content of web pages pays dividends

• Local authorities that have made good use of digital channels, usually have a focus on the needs and desires of customers at the centre of their strategy

• A requirement to log-on or register to pay online presents a barrier

• The shorter the online form, the lower the drop-out rate

• Where multiple pages are necessary progress indicators help to lessen drop-out

• Usability and a good customer journey are key drivers of use of websites

• Search facilities should be embedded in site and respond to common searches (a so called Poly-hierarchical Structure)

• A well designed channel mix will point customers in the direction of self-service, whilst providing the option of a human touch if necessary.

• A well designed website with an effective search facility will reduce numbers using more expensive channels to gather simple information

• A clear strategic publicity campaign to support migration can be very effective in migrating users to new channels

• You need a clear focus on what customers want now and will want in the future: “to design services around citizens and businesses you need to understand what they need, both from asking them directly, and from making the best possible use of the information we gather through service delivery.” (Cabinet Office on Transformational Government)

• Analysing web usage against monthly trends and annual growth and in terms of segmentation of services allows you to respond to demand and plot improvements against national trends

• Incentivising cost effective channels in terms of making it more convenient, passporting some of the financial saving as is done in the private sector, or by offering a faster response

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