Increasing digital channel use amongst digitally excluded Jobcentre Plus claimants

DWP Research Report 776 by Duncan Adam, Dr Maria de Hoyos and Anne E. Green (Institute for Employment Research, University of Warwick) and Vicky Campbell-Hall and Dr Andrew Thomas (TNS-BMRB)

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); and
• 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).

Full report (PDF 95pp)
ISBN 978-1-908523-26-6

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