United Kingdom's Tell Us Once project
The Tell Us Once program (TUO) is a cross-government service that makes it possible for people to inform a government just once of a birth or death.
@Photo from Pixabay.
Summary
The Tell Us Once program (TUO) is an example of the implementation of the “once only” principle in the United Kingdom. Tell Us Once is the award winning cross-government service that makes it possible for people to inform the government just once of a birth or death. It took place in 44 local authorities (LA) for 24 services such as the Council Housing service or the Passport service.
| Focus | Citizens |
|---|---|
| Start date | 1 Jan 2011 |
| Domain | Social matter |
| Scope | National/Federal |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Nature and status of project | Rolled Out |
| Is the OOP case/enabler mandatory? | Mandatory |
Enabling assets or components
Political commitment
The Digital Government Strategy (Strategy document provided by government), https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-digital-strategy
In order to enforce a real eGovernance Strategy, the Government published the Government Digital Strategy in November 201227. The objectives set out in the report are the following:
• to improve the government digital leadership;
• to develop the digital services;
• to redesign transactional services to match with the DBD standard;
• to provide services for citizens not having access to digital services;
• to improve the Government communication towards the public.
Legal interoperability
The Social Security (Notification of Changes of Circumstances) Regulation 2010, http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2010/444/regulation/4/made#regulation-4-2-b
Socio-cultural influence factors
A customer survey took place in the summer of 2013 to accurately measure the customer experience of those undertaking the service:
• 98% of people felt that their overall experience of the bereavement service was good
• 98% were willing to recommend the service to others suffering a bereavement
The Tell Us Once Program costs and benefits were estimated over a 10-year timeline, for three notification channels envisaged: IT system, telephone service, face-to-face service. The analysis found that the total cost of the implementation of the three notification channels is expected to be around £ 111,03 million. Although the TUO proved to originate higher costs than benefits, it has been included among the “once only” principle “best practices” anyhow. This choice is supported by the fact that the TUO is part of a broader eGovernment strategy, aimed at making digital all communications and transactions between government and users. Therefore, the TUO impact should not be considered apart, but within the whole impact of the eGovernment strategy. From this perspective, from the interviews it emerged that the United Kingdom government considers TUO as one of the relevant tools for the full digitization of public services because it fosters a gradual shift from offline to online services usage by citizens. Moreover, the application of TUO, and the consequent gradual increase of digital services take-up, entails an enhanced services quality.
Data handling / data exchange
Type of data sharing
Actual data
Data handler
| Stakeholder name | Stakeholder type |
|---|---|
| Citizens | Citizen |
| Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) | Government |
| HM Passport Office | Government |
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) | Government |
| Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) | Government |
| The local council | Government |
| Armed forces pension schemes | Government |
Architecture
Three notification channels is available for citizens : IT system, telephone service, face-to-face service.
The DWP designed, set up and now administers a unique IT infrastructure where all the information is centralised. The relevant information is distributed to all the concerned services in other departments.
The General Register Office now shares its own database with the DWP. The birth and death notification service, on a voluntary base, covers all the departments that are likely to need this information. All the notification procedures are run through the IT notification system administered by the DWP.
Lessons learned
Work and Pensions Minister Steve Webb said:
• Tell Us Once is helping people in often the most difficult times of their lives.
• The vast majority of people find the service useful and it shows how the government can work together to benefit the citizen, as well as being better value for the taxpayer.
• The vast majority of the country is now covered by Tell Us Once and I call on the final local authorities to come on board.
Source: https://scoop4c.eu/cases/united-kingdoms-tell-us-once-project
Disclaimer: Please note that this article is a result of the SCOOP4C Pilot Project, not an application of a CEF Building Block.