When “Online” Isn’t the Same as “Usable”: The Real Test for Digital Government
Picture someone trying to renew a Pension Credit claim on a cracked phone screen, using pay-as-you-go data, in a kitchen where three other people are asking for the wifi password. The service exists. It is, technically, online. And yet, for that person, it might as well not be — because logging in fails, the form times out, and there is no clear way to get help. This is the quiet problem sitting underneath Britain’s push toward digital-first government: a service can be fully digitised and still fail the very people it was built to reach.