Additional support for Universal Credit claimants
Date
July 2024
Organisation
GOV.UK
Role
Interaction Designer
I redesigned the additional support area of Universal Credit (UC). Working closely with a crossfuctional team, we improved usability and overall usage of the agent facing service - working from early UX discovery stages, through to a prototyped interaction design that was tested and optimised.
Agents capture accessibility requirements and other issues to provide claimants with the support they need
Inaccurate & out-of-date information
Research revealed that agents' biggest frustration was the inaccuracy of support information. Usability issues and missing functionality made updating information difficult, leading to outdated content and a lack of trust among agents relying on it.
Improve usability to increase agent usage
Ensuring the service is accessible to everyone, especially those who need additional support, is a top priority. To provide agents with more accurate claimant details, we needed to increase their engagement with the system. This meant enhancing the usability of the platform.
Identifying missing fuctionality
To gain deeper insights into the problem, we visited a Job Centre to conduct research with both agents and claimants. This allowed us to better understand claimant support needs and provided a holistic view of the agents' responsibilities and tasks. These findings shaped our initial scope for improvement.
Modular and intuitive interaction design
The design enables agents to efficiently complete their tasks by presenting each workflow in a clear, linear, and modular structure. It ensures an intuitive experience through the consistent reuse of components and patterns. The interface leverages components from the GOV Design System (GDS) and the custom Universal Credit Design System.
Increased usage & accuracy
Working on a live service means small changes can have a big impact. We took a "fail fast" approach, iterating many times based on the feedback from user testing. Once live, usage increased, providing better data on claimant support needs.