Carer’s Allowance Exemplar Is Now Live

The online application form for Carer’s Allowance has become the latest digital by default live exemplar service.

The service allows people caring for friends or family who are very or even terminally ill to apply online for financial help, which Whitehall claims 240,000 people claim each year.

“Carer’s Allowance is a benefit that’s provided to people who are really deserving in society,” claimed service manager Pete Desmond.

“When having to deal with all these problems and all the other strife that’s going on in their lives, being able to claim Carer’s Allowance should be the least of their worries,” he added.

“The new service is to enable people to claim Carer’s Allowance online which is a much quicker process than using the paper form,” claimed the service’s subject matter expert Kathryn Baxendale.

“Making sure that the customer can understand and progress through the claim, gives us the right information to make a quick decision on their application,” she added.

According to the Government Digital Service (GDS), user research has been essential in getting the service up and running.

It claims to have put the customer’s voice at the heart of everything is has done when developing the “simpler” online application form.

“Carers are busy people and these are some of the most vulnerable people in society, so if we’re supporting them by providing a really easy method of claiming Carer’s Allowance, then that to me has got to be a good thing because that’s what we’re here to do,” Baxendale claimed.

Digital  By Default Story So Far

As part of the government’s digital transformation plan, 25 of its highest transactional services are being rebuilt into digital “exemplar” services that are “so good, people prefer to use them.”

Carer’s Allowance joins seven other live exemplars, including register to vote, renew a patent, student finance, view driving licence, civil claims, prison visit booking and lasting power of attorney.

Each exemplar begins in the discovery phase, moves onto alpha, then to private beta, followed by public beta before finally going live.

Besides eight live services, there are still two remaining in the alpha phase, while the remaining 15 are in public or private beta.

Originally, the GDS had intended to have all exemplar services to be completed by March 2015, but executive director Mike Bracken has since revealed he expects 20 services to be in public beta or live by this time.

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