GET CItizen Income Information

DWP needs to know what people earn to make decisions about benefits. Each service had been getting that information from HMRC in its own way, through bespoke connections. It was slow and inefficient, and it risked errors, delays and security problems. The project aimed to give DWP a better route to citizen income data through a bespoke API, backed by a new data sharing agreement between the two departments.

There was no screen to test, and I treated that as no reason to skip the research. I spoke with the people who would build, run and rely on the service: DWP digital teams, operations staff and wider stakeholders.

They were generally supportive. They also raised concerns:

• They wanted clear, simple communication about what was changing.

• Operations staff didn't want a separate, dedicated income service to learn.

• The system had to be secure and protect citizens' privacy.

• "Real time" meant different things to different teams.

That last one was the big finding. Everyone agreed they wanted real-time data. No two teams meant the same thing by it. Without a shared definition, the API would have delivered something that suited nobody. DWP needed common data standards, with published metadata, so every team was working from the same meaning.

The findings shaped the design. The team put clear communications in place, with targeted documentation and self-service training and support for staff, and worked to make sure the service met the needs of citizens, digital teams and stakeholders.

If a service has no interface, it still has users. They're just harder to see.