There is one civil service in the United Kingdom, with diverse government ministerial organisations and parastatals. As a civil service, some organisations are interlinked or collaborate in their services to customers. For example, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is linked to Department for Works and Pensions (DWP), HMRC with the National Crime Agency (NCA), etc.
There is a problem of inter government communication in dealing with customer enquiries and in most instances, customers are advised to approach individual organisations to access a service and return the information to the requesting organisation e.g. UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI) with HMRC. This is a merry go round process which is inefficient and adds to the civil service government user service work load. It is also extremely worrying that these government departments though interlinked may not necessarily talk to each other.
The Covid-19 pandemic has brought these inadequacies to the forefront because the service levels are not the same across board. Whereas some departments like HMRC have thrived in the circumstances, some others are playing catch up on their systems or working with outdated technology.
The desired result will be for digital successes all round both for our customers and colleagues with reduced referrals as vital information is received promptly. The pathway to this should be for a secured interconnectivity platform to access customer records across organisations with necessary safe guarding measures on data protection.
An established scenario is this, a customer (may be a UK citizen or someone with rights to reside in the UK) has been living and working abroad for several years. They have not had any contact with the UK government systems over the years. Due to the global pandemic they decide to return to the UK. They approach the DWP for benefits as a result of seeking work in the interim, DWP refers them to HMRC. HMRC advises them to make contributions on the records which will go to their pension and possible benefits for the time they were abroad. They contact HMRC for help, who in turn requests for a written application with copies of identity documents. This information is received by paper correspondence and waits to be dealt with. Meanwhile the customer is waiting in limbo as employers (wrongly) will not employ them without a letter from HMRC or DWP showing NINO, the DWP will not pay any benefits until all the systems are updated. The issue lingers. The identity information can be verified from the HM Passport Office (HMPO) if HMRC had access. DWP should have access to HMRC to verify customer records etc.
To deal with this problem, a superuser highway network should be established between government departments to access customer records and communicate faster. The reality is that the potential risk to customer records and private information is outweighed by the need to be efficient and harness the latest technologies. The private sector has evolved to meet customer demands using technology advancements e.g. the banks, while the public sector is behind the times. The skill set for future civil servants – Generation Y+ may not wait around for obsolete approach to government business. The first steps are to open the flood gates of communication using the technology available.
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