Ana Cecilia Santos User researcher Ministry of Justice Digital Services @anaceciliaboman

Using research to inform service design.

Where it all started…

Hyper Island - 2010

IDEO

customers need it

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Ministry of Justice Digital Services

Our aim is to make it as easy and simple as possible for people to use the justice system.

Meaning putting the user first to ensure the services we offer match the way in which people want to interact with justice services.

How we do this

understand context desk research observational studies gather user needs paper prototyping

proof of concept guerrilla testing usability testing gather more needs test design approach establish KPI’s

fully working prototype monitor analytics usability testing

iterating service based on feedback. meet security standards. surveys

understand context desk research observational studies gather user needs paper prototyping

proof of concept guerrilla testing usability testing gather more needs test design approach establish KPI’s

fully working prototype monitor analytics usability testing

iterating service based on feedback. meet security standards. surveys

understand context desk research observational studies gather user needs paper prototyping

proof of concept guerrilla testing usability testing gather more needs test design approach establish KPI’s

fully working prototype monitor analytics usability testing

iterating service based on feedback. meet security standards. surveys

understand context desk research observational studies gather user needs paper prototyping

proof of concept guerrilla testing usability testing gather more needs test design approach establish KPI’s

fully working prototype monitor analytics usability testing

iterating service based on feedback. meet security standards. surveys

Prison Visit Bookings - Live

Prison Visit Bookings - Live

User Research

Understand users and their needs so that we can design the right kind of service in the right way. !

!

Ensure that the service we design is as easy to use as possible for end users.

1. Define your research objectives 2. Select appropriate research tool

How?

2 Case Studies

1 - Fee Remissions

DISCOVERY

Fee remission is the process to reduce court or tribunal fees because you’re on a low income or on benefits.

2 PAGE APPLICATION

31 PAGE GUIDANCE

+

court claim form Letter from DWP

stating benefits(dated last 3m)

Bank statements

evidencefee remission form

80% of fee remission applications are rejected due to incomplete fields or incorrect evidence being submitted.

Manchester Court, 60% of forms received are resubmissions.

£1.2 million = cost for court staff processing remissions

We wanted to understand the problem.

What are the pain points for the user on the existing form?

Where we are now

Identifying the user landscape

Public Users External Users Court Staff

I need to understand what i am being asked to fill in, so i can submit a form with no errors.

I need a quick way to see if public user is eligible or not, so i don't waste time looking through evidence.

I need most up to date guidance on fee remissions so I can support public users as best as possible.

PROTOTYPE

"I was told to read the booklet and I still didn't make

any sense, I didn't understand any of that legal jargon”

!Public user

2 - Tribunal Databases

BETA

Tribunals are legal bodies established to settle different types of disputes.

24 legal tribunals across the UK publish decisions on a regular basis.

Which means there are 24 ways of searching these databases.

Lost in translation.

3 PAGE GUIDANCE

We’ve started to change this.

Extensive research with primary users: internal (tribunal staff) and professional (lawyers)

Understanding our secondary users: litigants

A litigant is a person involved in a lawsuit.

We conducted an ethnographic interview with a litigant.

Understand the full journey litigants take when going through a tribunal

Understand how litigants access information to help them build their case

• Former receptionist

• Got fired when she told her employer she was dyslexic

• Solicitor wrote skeleton argument

• Unrepresented in court

Case timeline

Aug 2013

Feb 2014

May 2014

Sept 2014

Got terminated Attended pre-trial Accepted ££settlement from former employer

Started training for new job

employment !tribunal site

employment !law

google for !solicitors

google disabilities !gov sites

computer letter !termination

appeal !termination!

letter

phone!ACAS

got t

erm

inat

ed

phone!solicitor

cont

act s

olic

itor

employment !tribunal site

employment !law

google for !solicitors

google disabilities !gov sites

computer letter !termination

appeal !termination!

letter

phone!ACAS

got t

erm

inat

ed

phone!solicitor

cont

act s

olic

itor

subm

it cl

aim

you tube video

prel

imin

ary

hear

ing

computer !ET site

phone!tribunal

google !similar cases

email!from judge

User Journey: The experience of a litigant preparing their own case4. Fees

Person pays a fee to submit claim

Person is granted fee remission and doesn’t pay fees to submit claim

1. Incident

Person gets unfairly treated by employer e.g. unfair dismissal

If you think someone has treated you unlawfully, e.g. your employer, a potential employer or a trade union. Unlawful treatment can include:- unfair dismissal- discriminationunfair deductions from your pay

2. ACAS

Person notifies ACAS about their claim

Before you make a claim you’ll be offered the chance to settle the dispute without going to court by using the ACAS service

3. Action

You usually have to make a claim to the tribunal within three months of your employment ending or the problems happening

7. Preliminary hearing

The hearing takes place

To decide on things like - wether part or all of the persons claim can go ahead, the date and time of a hearing, how long the hearing should take.

8. Final hearing

The final hearing takes place

Final hearing where the judge will make his/her final decision on the case

9. Outcome

Person wins case against employer

Person loses case and appeals to EAT

Final hearing where the judge will make his final decision on the case.

Tracey’s Journey

5. Representation

Works with solicitor to prepare

Person represents themselves

Meet with solicitor, start gathering documentation and evidence for case.

Person can’t afford to pay a lawyer solicitor to help them build their case so chooses to represent themselves.

Upset and ashamed when her contract was terminated due to her dyslexia.

First point of research was Google for information on terms, processes and rights.

Is dyslexia a disability

Employment rights UK

Found there to be a lot of information available. at this stage.

Tracey accepted an out of court settlement. It was less than she expected but she was so relieved to put an end to it all and not to have to go to the final hearing she accepted. She was very happy about the outcome.

Tracey felt that a lot of information was made to her in advance of paying the fee, but was surprised about the lack of information on the next steps of the process - specifically how to prepare her case and what to expect at court

To prepare herself for what the hearing would be like Tracey found YouTube videos/tutorials - she found these to be really useful

If the solicitor files the claim, and enters their contact details in the form then the information pack will be sent to the solicitor and not the litigant.

Provide more information upfront about what is involved?

Tracey filed her own claim online after using a solicitor to prepare a skeleton argument.

She fake filed so that she knew what to expect before she filed her actual claim

Tracey supplemented advice from her solicitor with information from YouTube tutorials

Tracey found out about ACAS, a mediation service, through her own research.

She found them unhelpful. Because she already had a solicitor engaged they said they couldn’t help her.

Gov.UK pages were particularly helpful. She printed these off and took them into a meeting with her employer when she appealed the dismissal.

Tracey paid a fee to submit claim

She also tried to get an appointment at her local Citizens Advice Bureau after seeing them advertising in her local library, but couldn’t get an appointment and they never answered the phone.

Tracey engaged with a succession of different solicitors as the case progressed. She had low levels of confidence in the ability of these professionals to accurately represent her, so even though she needed help preparing legal documents she continued to do her own research.

Tracey contacted various dyslexia charities for information and assistance with preparing her case and representing herself but felt there was little available, “most of it was geared towards kids”

6. Preparing case

Person prepares case by themselves before the hearing

Preparing documents, doing necessary research for their case ahead of hearing

Tracey found the preliminary hearing baffling, confusing, intimidating questioned her ability to continue with the case.

Dyslexia cases

Dyslexia discrimination cases in the UK

Discrimination cases in the UK

Unaware that it was possible tribunal judgements were available and searchable online - need to think about appropriate channels for getting this information to her. SEO, inser in information pack, information in tribunal waiting room.

Tracey did not start her search for cases with TRIBUNALShe didn’t know what this word meantSEO should optimise for generic searches

Upper tribunal cases should be prioritised here as these are the only binding ones - cases in first tier tribunals can be overturned once they get to Upper Tribunals.

Important elements to Tracey’s search for relevant case law were:DATE - the law changed in 2007, so anything before this date was irrelevantOUTCOME - she needed to know wether the case was successful or notGENERAL TOPIC - discrimination

Following the preliminary hearing Tracey’s informational needs shifted from the general to the specific, she needed to access specific case law in order to help her assess the merit of her case and to help her prepare her witness statements

The judge asked “who prepared this” whilst looking at the documents her solicitor had created - her confidence in the solicitor to represent her was further dented.

Tracey found it very difficult to find relevant case law. As a non-legal professional she didn’t know where to start her search. She felt “helpless”. She did find some lists of cases on websites of some of the dyslexic charities

Emotional journey

Access to information Journey

Access to information

“upset at first” “confused, helpless”

“just happy it was over”“scared”“later I got angry”

Good level of informatiom Poor levels of information

Person files a claim against their employer

Service map: litigant journey across an Employment Tribunal

Created a persona

Thank you! !

!

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