Project Overview
A UK local authority administering Housing Benefit (pre-UC migration) needed a digital change of circumstances...
Technology Stack
Compliance & Standards
The Challenge
A UK local authority administering Housing Benefit (pre-UC migration) needed a digital change of circumstances (CoC) platform to replace their legacy HBIS (Housing Benefit Information System) interface. 12,400 annual CoC submissions were processed via paper forms and phone calls — average processing time 18 days. GDS Service Standard, WCAG 2.1 AA (PSBAR), UK GDPR for benefits personal data, and DWP data sharing requirements for UC migration were the requirements. Budget: £70,000.
Our Approach
Compliant Digital CoC Journey
GOV.
UK Design System form builder
declarative form components (radios, checkboxes, date inputs, address lookup).
Form logic
- conditional disclosure (if income changed → which income type → what evidence required).
- GOV.
UK Notify
- confirmation email and SMS on submission, progress updates, and decision notifications.
- WCAG 2.1
AA
manual NVDA testing on every form change.
Average form completion
8 minutes target.
Document Upload and Evidence Management
GOV.UK-style document upload: drag-and-drop with accessible fallback, file type validation (PDF/JPEG/PNG), maximum size 5MB, virus scanning (ClamAV in Lambda).
Evidence workflow
claimant uploads → caseworker review → evidence accepted/rejected with plain-English reason.
Rejected evidence
GOV.UK Notify resubmission request with specific guidance.
HBIS API integration
read current Housing Benefit entitlement, submit CoC event, receive new entitlement calculation.
Automated overpayment detection
- if reported CoC changes have retroactive effect, flag for caseworker overpayment decision.
- DWP Universal Credit API (pilot): data sharing for claimants migrating to UC — Housing Benefit termination event sent to DWP UC system.
UK GDPR Benefits Data Protections
Benefits data is sensitive — financial vulnerability, disability, domestic circumstances.
UK GDPR basis
public task (Housing Benefit is a statutory function).
Data minimisation
digital CoC collects only what HBIS requires — no additional fields.
Access control
caseworker sees only their allocated caseload.
Vulnerable claimants
flag for additional telephone support offered.
Retention
7 years post-entitlement (statutory).
The Results
Platform live at 12 weeks, £64,000 — under budget.
Digital CoC adoption: 78% within 6 months (paper+phone: 100% at launch).
Processing time: 18 days → 6.2 days average.
Caseworker time per case: 45 minutes → 28 minutes.
GDS Beta assessment: passed first attempt.
WCAG 2.1 AA: zero non-compliances found in Cabinet Office monitoring.
DWP CoC data sharing: 94% of UC migration cases handled via digital platform.
“18 days to 6 days processing time. For a claimant waiting for their rent to be paid, that is not an administrative metric — that is whether they get evicted. GDS first attempt. WCAG zero issues. The DWP data sharing integration prepared us for UC migration better than any other local authority in our region." — Head of Housing Benefit, UK Local Authority (name withheld)”
Project Details
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