In November 2022, the design and research teams for the Information Sharing and Family Experience services joined together.
One of our first tasks was to look at the 2 prototypes we had built side by side. In both services we have a search by postcode page and a results page.
We compared the 2 prototypes and identified where there were differences and where we needed to make changes to align the 2 products to each other and Department for Education (DfE) standards.
Information sharing (IS) prototype
For this version of the IS prototype, we also needed to update the content and design to reflect the scope of the product for the minimal viable product (MVP) for private beta.
The MVP does not include the functionality for professionals to make accounts or sign in or to make connections using the service.
Choosing a service name
We ran a workshop to name the service and landed on the name ‘Connect families to support’ to use for private beta. We’ve updated this name on the prototype for MVP.
Start page
We removed reference to the service being for people ‘from England’. The service will be Department for Education branded, and on a DfE domain, and DfE only covers England.
We changed the safeguarding message from:
Contact the police if you think someone is in danger of being harmed. Do not use this service
to:
Do not use this service if you’re worried that a child or young person is at risk of being abused.
The DfE Child Protection Safeguarding unit advised that the content in the safeguarding message should use the same wording as on the homepage of the Report child abuse page on GOV.UK. We have added a link to the page, rather than duplicate the content.
We also updated the content on the landing page to reflect the scope of the MVP.
We removed the bullet points about what professionals will need to connect a family to a service and consent. The functionality to connect a family to a service will not be available during private beta.
Instead, we have added a set of bullet points to describe what a user can do using the service.
You can use this service to find:
- support services local to a family
- contact details to contact a support service on a family’s behalf
- contact details to share with a family to contact a support service themselves
The service will contact the family if they can help.
Sign in to your account page
We removed this page from the prototype as professionals will not be required to have an account or to sign in for the MVP.
Search for services by postcode
On this page we:
- removed reference to “from England” for the reasons previously outlined
- updated the search by postcode pattern to use the common DfE pattern
Search results page
On this page we:
- changed the Header 1 from ‘52 services found’ to ‘Services, groups and activities in this area’ in order to inform users what the content is on the page
- made amends to the filter component
Detailed results page
On this page we:
- removed the map as this is not in scope for the MVP
- removed the call to action button to ‘connect family to service’ as this is not in scope for the MVP
- added the contact details for the service to enable a user to make contact themselves
- moved the address into the contact details section
Family experience prototype
Choosing a service name
We ran a workshop to name the service and landed on the name ‘Find support for your family’ to use for private beta. We’ve updated this name on the prototype for MVP.
Search for services by postcode
On this page we updated the search by postcode pattern to use the common DfE pattern.
Age ranges
We have changed how we display data on age ranges. This is to align with how detail on age ranges is collected and displayed for the information sharing service and to make it easier for data to be uploaded into the service.
Before, users selected from an age range using a radio button. Now, users select a single age from a drop down.
