The problem we set out to solve
The DfE currently provides the Eligibility Checking Service (ECS) which is a key tool to support Local Authorities (LAs) in determining whether individuals are eligible for the following entitlements:
- Free School Meals (FSM) -the eligibility of a parent or carer for Free School Meals for their children
- Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP)
- The entitlement of a Childcare Provider to receive the Early Years Pupil Premium for parents whose children meet the eligibility criteria
- Free Education and Childcare for 2-year-olds (2YO) - the eligibility of a parent or carer for funded Early Years learning for two-year-olds
- 30 hours free childcare (30H)-validity checks for the 30 hrs entitlement for three-and four-year-olds for working families
Given the need to replace the system and the potential for future policy change around eligibility for entitlements, the Discovery was initiated to explore the eligibility checking landscape to understand what users currently do and identify the gaps/improvement opportunities in the process
The findings uncovered informed on what a new eligibility checking system/systems should look like.
There is an opportunity for schools to assist in the process, and for parents to check their own eligibility in a simple and straight forward way.
User Research
Feedback from discovery had highlighted key user needs of:
Families
- As a parent or carer that might be eligible for support, I need to know which steps to take to get the entitlement and where to get help if I need it
- As a parent or carer that might be eligible for support, I need access to tailored information that reflects me and my household
Local Authorities
As an LA checking officer, I need to know if children in my authority are eligible or potentially eligible, and be up to date with applications submitted in different places
As an LA checking officer, I need clear guidance for schools and childcare providers so that they can own more of the checking process and troubleshoot failed applications themselves
Schools
As a school administrator, I need reassurance that every family can apply for the entitlements they might be eligible for, regardless of their social status, language abilities or additional needs
As a school administrator, I need to know whether a pupil or family is eligible, so that I can put the appropriate support and funding in place for them
Childcare Providers
As a childcare provider, I need reassurance that all the families wishing to use my childcare setting can apply for the entitlements they are eligible for, regardless of their social status, language abilities or additional needs
As a childcare provider, I need to know which families are eligible for childcare support, so that I can ensure I have the right staff and provision in place, and arrange my timetable effectively
Our hypotheses and approach
Our main hypothesis for Alpha is: If we shift the onus on eligibility checking for Free School Meals to the parents/carers, with schools being able to assist in the process, it will make the process more streamlined for LAs and Schools and save time and effort
As a result of the hypothesis we’d be testing, childcare providers as a user group are being descoped for Alpha as a part of checking for the childcare eligibilities is managed by HMRC and hence out of the remit for the project at this stage
Our design approach
For the free school meals checker, we initially wanted to collect:
- Name
- Date of birth
- Local authority
- NI or NASS
- Child name, DOB and school
This would lead to an initial flow which would allow the parent to proceed or not if eligible. The parent or carer would also be able to 'appeal' if they’re not eligible or not found.
We used an iteration of the existing free school meals GOV page with a start now section, hypothesising most users would find the service via Google. If not, they could be sign posted to it by the local school.
We made an offline form available from the start now page, intending this to be completed by the parent or carer and handed in.
For the school and local authority checker dashboard we used the DfE card component, as this has tested well across different DfE services.
Notifications were designed to be as simple as possible, knowing a lot of users may not have English as a first language. These would be tested with users for usability and comprehension.
How all the different journeys tested
The families’ journey
Round 1 - This journey was tested via moderated usability testing sessions with parents
The school's journey
Round 1 - This was tested via moderated usability testing sessions with school business managers
The LA journey
Round 1 - Codesign/Ideation workshop sessions were facilitated with 6 LAs to gain their perspective on the proposed concept.
Conclusion
The overall concept of applying via checking your eligibility tested quite well with parents and schools. Schools were keen to help where they were able, to ensure parents got the help they needed. Local Authorities were initially quite sceptical, as did not want to change existing processes and underlying polices. This part of the service is still under review.
Next steps
We will iterate further based on the findings from user research and the co design session with Local Authorities.