Alternative contact formats

[michaelcattell]

What

Original community proposal

Some people need DWP to contact them in other ways than a standard letter or phone call. This can include large print, audio, Braille, and more. This pattern will be a consistent way for people to tell us that they need us to contact them in a different format.

(Note: this was previously named "Contact preferences")

Why

• High effort and impact
• High community priority

Assumptions

Services might not be able to provide all options
Different services will have different options available

Done when

Research

• Research - Alternative contact formats #490
  • Collect examples from other services and design systems
  • Write up background research and define the problem

Design

• Design - Alternative contact formats #491
  • Decide on preferred approach
  • Draft content and sketches
  • Create GitHub discussion
  • Make preview branch

Review

• Review - Alternative contact formats #492
  • Accessibility review
  • Working group: request for comments
  • Working group: workshop
  • Community: consultation period
  • Community: IxD show and tell
  • Community: content design show and tell
  • Community: user research show and tell
  • Finalise content

Build

• Build - Alternative contact formats #493
  • Code example
  • Website page and navigation updates

Test

• Test - Alternative contact formats #495
  • Write unit tests
  • Basic accessibility checks
  • Browser compatibility checks
    • Screenshot evidence for browser design review (Confluence)
  • Automated testing
  • Manual testing
  • Assistive technology testing
    • Complete applicable tests on DAC forms (Confluence)
  • Send to evidence to a11y team

Publish

• Publish - Alternative contact formats #494
  • Publish to site
  • Show and tells
  • Update any community tickets
  • Write announcement
  • Set review date

Outcomes

• Service teams have clear guidance on how to use this pattern
• Users have a consistent experience across services, even when a journey consists of multiple smaller services

Who needs to know about this

UCD community
ARA service teams
Design System team
Accessibility team

Related stories

Community backlog issue: #426
Discussion:
GDS Pattern: https://design-system.service.gov.uk/patterns/contact-a-department-or-service-team/
GDS backlog: alphagov/govuk-design-system-backlog#11
Video Relay Service link: #335

Anything else

Need to be mindful that services have to work with their own offline support teams to confirm what alternative formats are available.

[martinwake]

NSJSA and ESA teams working on this: next step is to follow up with them to get findings and then draft high-level guidance on the options. It may be appropriate to have several different options depending on the help available and the needs of the service.