Why Digital Only Councils Exclude Residents
A Digital-Only Council Is Not a More Efficient Council
Moving public services online can be sensible. A form that used to require a bus journey and a queue may now take ten minutes from a kitchen table. For people with reliable broadband, a suitable device and confidence online, that is a real improvement.
But the opposite is also true. When a council makes the digital route the default, rather than one route among several, the work has not disappeared. It has been moved onto residents, often those with the least time, money or confidence to absorb it.
The hidden work behind a simple form Consider a household applying for a repair, a concessionary travel pass or help with energy costs. The official task may be described as completing an online form. In practice, it can involve finding a device, remembering a password, receiving a verification code, scanning documents, resizing photographs and uploading files in the correct format.
If the connection drops, the page times out or the person cannot understand a question, there may be no obvious way to save progress. A family member, neighbour or volunteer ends up providing informal technical support. That support is valuable, but it should not be mistaken for a functioning public service.
There is a particular problem with services connected to housing and energy. People may need help quickly when a boiler fails, a home becomes damp or a bill is unexpectedly high. A digital process that is theoretically available at any hour is not necessarily accessible at the point when someone is cold, worried or working shifts.
Access is more than broadband coverage Digital inclusion is often discussed as if the main question were whether a property can get a fast connection. That matters, but it is only one part of the picture.
A person may have broadband but share one phone with several family members. They may use a pay-as-you-go mobile connection and avoid downloading large documents. They may have a disability that makes a poorly designed website difficult to navigate. They may be managing debt and be wary of online identity checks. Older residents can be perfectly capable of using some digital services while finding a new portal, unfamiliar password system or video appointment much harder.
Even confident users can struggle when a service has been designed around the organisation’s internal categories rather than the resident’s situation. Someone asking for help with a cold home may not know whether to choose housing, health, benefits or environmental services. The system may require them to know the council’s structure before the council will listen.
A better standard for digital services The useful question is not whether a service is online. It is whether a resident can complete the whole process, including asking for clarification, correcting a mistake and knowing what happens next.
That means keeping a real non-digital route available. It means offering phone and face-to-face help without making people defend their inability to use a website. It means testing services with renters, carers, people with limited English, disabled residents and households sharing devices, not just with staff in an office.
For local authorities, the practical test could be straightforward. Track how many people abandon a form. Record how often staff have to re-enter information from paper or telephone requests. Ask residents whether they understood the outcome, not merely whether they reached the final screen. Publish service standards in plain language.
Digital tools can reduce friction, but only when they remove work rather than relocate it. A council that offers a warm, accessible building, a answered telephone and a usable website is not being old-fashioned. It is recognising that resilience comes from having more than one way for people to get help.
That is particularly important as public services become more dependent on apps, automated messages and online accounts. Convenience is worth pursuing. Exclusion is not an acceptable side effect of pursuing it.