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Information Exchange between Citizens and the Department of Work and Pensions
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The Oxford Internet Institute at the University of Oxford and the LSE Public Policy Group at the London School of Economics are carrying out a value for money study for the National Audit Office (NAO) looking at information exchange between the Department for Work and Pensions and its benefit customers. The research is led by Professors Professor Patrick Dunleavy (LSE) and Professor Helen Margetts (Oxford). Jane Tinkler (LSE) is the Project Manager and the Oxford research fellows are Tobias Escher and Stephane Reissfelder. Our research runs from September 2008 with publication of the NAO report scheduled for March 2009.
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The study will examine:
- How easy is it for customers to find out how and where to claim benefits and what information they will be required to submit;
- How straightforward it is for citizens to submit information to the DWP by their preferred channel, e.g. face to face, telephone, paper forms or online;
- The quality of information provision by the DWP both during and after application; and
- Whether the DWP makes maximum use of the information provided by benefit applications to make subsequent contacts easier for customers.
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Our research methods are:
- Case studies of four benefits: Attendance Allowance, Pension Credit, Jobseekers Allowance and Maternity Allowance;
- Detailed analysis of a sample of files from each of the case study benefits;
- Focus groups with existing and potential benefit customers;
- Experiments in OxLab to explore potential customers experiences of finding and using online information;
- Interviews with DWP staff and visits to DWP offices along with interactions with stakeholder groups; and
- Comparisons with governments from other countries and the private sector.
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For more details on this study, you can contact:
Jane Tinkler (LSE), Project Manager, LSE Public Policy Group 020 7955 6064 or j.tinkler@lse.ac.uk
For details of the experiments and OxLab, contact:
Tobias Escher, Oxford Internet Institute, tobias.escher@oii.ox.ac.uk
and Stephane Reissfelder, Oxford Internet Institute, stephane.reissfelder@nuffield.ox.ac.uk
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