Get a Proof of Benefit Letter beta assessment report
DWP's One Customer View – Get a Proof of Benefit Letter beta assessment report
Service Standard assessment report
One Customer View – Get a Proof of Benefit Letter
| Assessment date: | 25/03/2025 |
| Stage: | Beta Assessment |
| Result: | Red |
| Service provider: | DWP |
Previous assessment reports
Customer View alpha assessment
Service description
Customer View gives our customers more control over their benefits and State Pension online. It allows a customer to view and update their information with one login, allowing 24/7 access to complete simple tasks in one place.
The Minimum Viable Product (MVP) for Customer View allows a customer, regardless of the benefit they receive (excluding Universal Credit), to view the personal details that we hold about them. A customer in receipt of AA, DLA, ESA, JSA, IS, Pension Credit, PIP & State Pension can also request a proof of benefit letter is posted out to their home or correspondence address.
The scope of this assessment was for the Get a Proof of Benefit Letter service only, the MVP for One Customer View.
Service users
This service is for:
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any customer, regardless of the benefit they receive, who wants to view the personal details that DWP holds about them
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a customer in receipt of Attendance Allowance, Disability Living Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance, Jobseeker’s Allowance, Income Support, Pension Credit, Personal Independence Payment or State Pension can request a Proof of Benefits letter is posted out to their home address.
Things the service team has done well:
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the team have conducted multiple rounds of user research, employing a variety of methods and have tested the end-to-end service with participants who represent service users. Designs have been iterated based on user needs
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the team has reduced the cognitive load on users by using relevant ‘dynamic’ content to only show users benefits they have and structured content to make it clear to users what they can and cannot request using the service
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the team have all the required roles expected in a multidisciplinary agile team at this phase of development, with recruitment ongoing for additional roles to manage the increase in demand upon public beta launch.
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performance analytics are well integrated with user research and are used to help understand pain points, develop hypotheses and evaluate the impact of service improvements.
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appropriate perimeter protection is in place. Regular IT Health Checks will be carried out and Personally Identifiable Information (PII) data handling has been appropriately considered.
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by taking a decision to build using a micro-UI approach the team have made extensibility easily achievable in a controlled way and have options for reuse.
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the team are assessing the adoption of GOV.UK One Login. The team have made use of the CASE framework within DWP using GOV.UK Notify for some message delivery.
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observability and telemetry are in place as part of the standard ecosystem offering.
1. Understand users and their needs
Decision
The service was rated green for point 1 of the Standard.
2. Solve a whole problem for users
Decision
The service was rated amber for point 2 of the Standard.
During the assessment, we didn’t see evidence of:
- transforming the existing ‘alpha’ service into public beta with new functionality such as a digital proof - the team have explored one solution by email however have opted to pause this despite user research. Other government departments have already implemented online digital proofs (for example HMRC Child Benefit)
- a confirmed route for users to start their journey on GOV.UK either by updating existing guidance or a separate starting point
- broad engagement or interaction with 3rd parties to help solve the whole problem, for example how could users ‘share’ their proof directly with those who need it without the user being in the middle.
3. Provide a joined-up experience across all channels
Decision
The service was rated red for point 3 of the Standard.
During the assessment, we didn’t see evidence of:
- improving the content of proof of benefit letters despite user research findings for this service showing user confusion with content in the letters
- providing options to users to choose if they want separate or one letter to prove multiple benefits.
4. Make the service simple to use
Decision
The service was rated red for point 4 of the Standard.
During the assessment, we didn’t see evidence of:
- a large sample size of users using the private beta and going through the service end to end unaided - only 227 requests have been made (~0.25% of the total transactions on the alpha service in 2024 have used the private beta)
- alternative ways for users to access the online service if they’re not able to complete online identity verification (OIDV) aside from calling DWP helplines. The current alpha service does not require verification so users are able to easily complete the form to get a proof of benefit letter posted to them and only 50 to 60% of users currently get through OIDV, impacting users and DWP.
5. Make sure everyone can use the service
Decision
The service was rated amber for point 5 of the Standard.
During the assessment, we didn’t see evidence of:
- an option to request alternative format of a proof of benefit letter(s) as well as standard letters for different third parties.
6. Have a multidisciplinary team
Decision
The service was rated green for point 6 of the Standard.
7. Use agile ways of working
Decision
The service was rated green for point 7 of the Standard.
8. Iterate and improve frequently
Decision
The service was rated amber for point 8 of the Standard.
During the assessment, we didn’t see evidence of:
- sufficient iteration from insight and data drawn from real users who have used the private beta service. This is due to the low volume of users who have used the private beta service. The panel recognised that iterations have been conducted based on user research findings.
9. Create a secure service which protects users’ privacy
Decision
The service was rated green for point 9 of the Standard.
Optional advice to help the service team continually improve the service:
- the team are aware of vulnerability management and are using scanning tools and processes to ensure security posture of the applications are maintained. There needs to be a clear understanding and regular review of integration APIs security posture.
- the team have considered distributing electronic delivery of Proof of Benefit letters via email. The team need to consider that carefully attaching documents via email is not a secure means of communication. They should consider encryption at rest and in transit and deliver from the application.
10. Define what success looks like and publish performance data
Decision
The service was rated amber for point 10 of the Standard.
During the assessment, we didn’t see evidence of:
- sufficient information to support benchmarking or to enable the team to define what success looks like. Proposed metrics are well thought out and relevant to the service and strategic objectives. The panel recommends the team to collect additional data to support defining success measures for the service.
11. Choose the right tools and technology
Decision
The service was rated green for point 11 of the Standard.
Optional advice to help the service team continually improve the service:
- the team is making use of the Kubernetes platform that is already in production and built and maintained by a dedicated team. They need to continue to ensure robust testing is in place and there is clear communication between teams.
- whilst reusing APIs from the Strategic Reference Architecture, the team need to ensure strong versioning and ensure they validate schemas for the predefined agreement (contract) between those API providers and the team’s consumers.
12. Make new source code open
Decision
The service was rated amber for point 12 of the Standard.
During the assessment, we didn’t see evidence of:
- open-source code at this stage however the pipelines show clear intent to publish to https://github.com/dwp
13. Use and contribute to open standards, common components and patterns
Decision
The service was rated green for point 13 of the Standard.
14. Operate a reliable service
Decision
The service was rated green for point 14 of the Standard.
Next Steps
In order for the service to continue to the next phase of development, it must meet the Standard and get GDS spend approvals. The service must be reassessed against the points of the Standard that are rated red at this assessment.