Research and analysis

Increasing digital channel use amongst digitally excluded Jobcentre Plus claimants (RR776)

Research on how to encourage those who never or hardly ever use the internet.

From:
Department for Work and Pensions
Published
1 October 2011

Documents

Increasing digital channel use amongst digitally excluded Jobcentre Plus claimants (RR776): report

Ref: ISBN 978-1-908523-26-6

PDF, 954 KB, 95 pages

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Increasing digital channel use amongst digitally excluded Jobcentre Plus claimants (RR776): summary

PDF, 275 KB, 3 pages

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Details

By Duncan Adam, Vicky Campbell-Hall, Dr Maria de Hoyos, Anne E. Green and Dr Andrew Thomas

Qualitative research was commissioned to develop an actionable approach to encourage digitally excluded claimants to use Jobcentre Plus digital channels, by increasing Jobcentre Plus’ understanding of:

  • how to address the barriers to digital service usage
  • the behavioural strategies required to encourage digitally excluded claimants online
  • the types of services that claimants might value (which involved presenting claimants with examples of potential digital services)
  • the role of Jobcentre Plus staff and digital partners in supporting the migration of claimants to online services.

For the purpose of this research, ‘digitally excluded’ claimants are defined as individuals who never access the internet, or do so no more than three times a month, and lack confidence in their internet skills.

Between April and June 2011, 80 face-to-face interviews with digitally excluded Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), Income Support (IS), Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Incapacity Benefit (IB) claimants, 35 telephone interviews with Jobcentre Plus staff and five telephone interviews with external digital partners were undertaken and analysed thematically (further details are presented in Chapter 1).

Published 1 October 2011