Opportunity
Since its inception in 2015, the ASF has been a success and has positively impacted the lives of over 80,000 children and families by providing access to vital therapies that enable them to stabilise and thrive. The government has increased funding for the ASF year on year. The success of the fund has resulted in increased demand, over twice that forecast, for support from the ASF. To ensure funding was available to as many families as possible, the Department for Education (DfE) introduced an annual limit of funding for each family. The DfE also introduced a match funding approach, allowing LA/RAAs to provide additional funding where they had identified a need for higher cost interventions. As a result the fund became more complex to administer and LAs/RAAs were finding the original online application system increasingly complex and time consuming to use.
As part of a re-procurement exercise, in which we were successful, the DfE requested the development of an updated online application portal to simplify the application process and ensure that applications were processed in line with Government Digital Services IT standards, utilising open-source technology.
Our role as delivery partner included the development and management of a bespoke digital platform to enable us to process over 10,000 applications per year, while providing stakeholder management and training to LAs/RAAs to give them uninterrupted access to the original fund.
Solution
Mott MacDonald collaborated to deliver a multi-phase project to redesign the whole online application process, creating an intuitive new system with LA/RAA user needs at its heart.
Collaboration was key to delivering a solution so funding could be distributed more easily. Co-production was central to the process, involving a cross-section of internal and external users, who had a wide range of different requirements. We facilitated two-way communication throughout the development ensuring user feedback was central to decision making and everyone was clear on the outputs at each stage.
By engaging and collaborating with users, we identified pinch points in the legacy process before mapping out user journeys to eliminate them. We tested our proposed approaches with an extensive group of subject matter experts to ensure all aspects were scrutinised and addressed, ensuring the user experience was as straightforward as possible.
Regular communications meant that users at all levels were aware of, and ready for the change, which has been welcomed. The collaboration not only made a change in service delivery, but also created a user community which ensures continual service improvement based on their feedback.
Outcome
The ASF digital service was well received by the DfE and the LA/RAA users themselves. This collaboration has refined the application process by delivering the new bespoke digital service, on time and within budget. The improved service means users spend less time on application administration and frees up their valuable time to deliver more support directly to children and families.
Already, we have helped ease the process of applications, reviewing and approving over 79,000 funding applications, distributing £260m to support over 80,000 families.
“It took only 10 minutes to produce my application, compared to 25 minutes on the old system. It is much quicker, guided, and easier to follow. Makes me think I can complete more applications.” London Borough
“We in the Department for Education really appreciate Mott MacDonald’s support, commitment, and excellent management of the process, which has resulted in so many thousands of children and families receiving practical help and therapeutic support. The feedback we receive from LA/RAA colleagues really brings home the power of the ASF and the impact it has on some of the most vulnerable in society. It is reassuring to see that the fund is effectively supporting adoptive and special guardianship families. You are a great team to work with.” Former Policy Lead, Adoption Support Fund, Department for Education