Aims
We’re working with local authorities and Welsh Government to:
- learn how we can work together and share content to meet user needs and improve service delivery
- understand ways to improve Welsh language content and the value of better bilingual content
The problem we're solving
The School Essentials Grant is a Welsh Government grant to help low-income families with children pay for school essentials.
Local authorities administer the grant across Wales and produce their content separately. This meant that they developed 22 pieces of similar content. This duplication comes with a cost for local authorities.
Initial research showed that the grant was under-claimed due to a lack of awareness and information about them. The content available was viewed as:
- inaccessible
- overwhelming
- confusing
- threatening
Users were unsure if they were eligible and either gave up applying or needed to contact the council or other advisory services.
Welsh speakers found the service difficult to use in Welsh and referred to the English content instead.
Partners
We have worked with:
- Welsh Government
- WLGA
- Bevan Foundation
- ONS
We have also been supported by:
- Welsh Government Policy team
- Natural Resources Wales
On our delivery team were:
- Adrián Ortega, Content Designer
- Ceri Williams, Translator (Ateb)
- Liam Collins, Interaction Designer
- Jemima Monteith-Thomas, Delivery Manager
- Tom Brame, User Researcher
A summary of the work
We engaged and involved members of Welsh Government, local authorities and users through workshops, consultations, and testing.
We worked remotely with a 30-minute regular stand-up every Monday and Friday.
Read the School Essentials Grant content toolkit for local authorities to learn about the techniques we used and get templates that you can use.
