Projects and pilots

South West e-government pilot

Background

The Government has made a significant investment in developing online public services. The aim of the 2006 UK online centre e-government pilot was to assess the effectiveness of UK online centres in broadening the access to, and use of, government e-services amongst the residents of the pilot area - the South West of England.

Over the course of the nine month pilot, around 16,000 customers were introduced to central and local government e-services through 36 UK online centres. The services covered included Directgov and NHS Direct, pension forecasts and credit, housing benefit and council tax. Users were also encouraged and helped to make use of online job search and course search facilities, pay for vehicle licences or register for provisional licences.

The project was a finalist in the e-Government national awards (January 2007) and the e-Wellbeing Awards (March 2007).

Giving e-government a helping hand

The pilot research found that 97% of people taking part felt reassured just by having staff around to support their first digital transactions, and those most in need of individual help were often from socially disadvantaged groups.

The nature of the services involved allowed researchers Simpson Carpenter to identify customers who were digitally excluded and had a 'social need' to contact government - for instance job information, social housing, or benefit applications. Nationwide, an estimated 6.6 million people have social reason to contact government, but are without the skills to choose to do so online.

Findings from a follow-up survey six months on also found that:

45% of people had reported major improvements to their lives
45% had continued to find useful local or central e-government services
18% had gone on to further learning
9% had gone on to find a job.

The research - Transformational Government for the Citizen, can be read in full in the Reading Room.

Case study

Retirement boost for surfing grandad...

A grandad from Cornwall is making the most of his retirement, thanks to a government website and a little help from UK online centre Looe Enterprise.

In this section

Latest news:

Get online day gets underway at Holborn Library - Today the second national Get online day was kicked off at Holborn Library UK online centre.

Government’s online plans are a major step in tackling digital divide - UK online centres, the organisation which provides access to technology and support in using it, yesterday welcomed Gordon Brown’s announcement at the Labour Party Conference to fund a million extra families to get online.

New research links digital inclusion and social impact - Learning about computers and the internet can help improve the lives of disadvantaged groups, according to a new research report from UK online centres and Ipsos MORI.

The second annual Get online day is taking place this year on 24 October 2008, and it’s another chance for families to get into UK online centres and onto the internet…

The UK online centres Awards took place over the summer. Find out more about the winners from the Awards programme, or get a flavour of the day by watching the Awards film.