Most council websites not yet good enough to support major shift to self service concludes Better connected 2010

Key results from this year's survey are:

• Eleven sites achieve four stars, the top rating in the 2010 survey: (Allerdale BC, Brent, Buckinghamshire CC, Cambridgeshire CC, East Sussex CC, Exeter City, Newcastle upon Tyne City, Oxfordshire CC, Salford City, South Tyneside MBC, Worthing BC). (See notes below for explanation of new rating system)

• This compares with eight achieving the very similar 'excellent' rating last year, three of which have achieved four stars in 2010 (Allerdale BC, Salford City, and South Tyneside MBC)

• Under the new rating system, 11 sites (3%) are rated four star, 106 (24%) are rated three star, 200 (46%) two star and 116 (27%) are rated one star.

• Overall, council websites have not made significant progress since 2009. The judgement is based on comparison of standards across nine essential criteria where improvements are balanced by deterioration or evidence of little or no change.

• Council website usage appears to be rising: 80 councils using the Website take-up service saw visitors rise by 21.7% in 2009 compared with the previous 12 months

• More than half of all councils' answerphone messages still fail to refer callers to their websites

• 123 sites (28% - up from 25% last year) are rated as satisfactory or very good on accessibility, with no more than two types of failure reported.

• Of the nine new English unitary councils created on 1 April 2009, two achieve three stars, four two stars, and three one star, the best being Shropshire

The majority of council websites are not yet good enough to support the major shift to self-service required to mitigate the impact of coming budget cuts on service levels and satisfaction, concludes this year's annual Better connected report, published on 1 March.

Shifting enquiries to the much cheaper, 24/7 available, web channel will only work if people seeking council services online can achieve what they want, and quickly. But results of this year's survey show little evidence that councils have invested in their sites over the last 12 months to make the necessary improvements. Overall, there has been little improvement since last year and there is an increasing gap between the best and worst performing websites. The basis for this judgement is the results summarised in note xx below.

Other data from Socitm Insight, gathered through its Website take-up service and reported in Better connected, shows that visitor satisfaction with council websites dropped by 18% between December 2008 and December 2009, and that in December 2009 21% of visitors to council websites did not find what they were looking for from the council website - increase in web failures of 9% in the year since December 2008. The worst recorded failure rate was 39%

To turn this situation around and achieve the sort of websites that will maximise channel shift to the web, councils need to focus much more on identifying and delivering the 'top tasks' that their website users want to achieve. A survey for Better connected 2010 into current practice shows that few councils currently follow a 'top tasks' approach.

The report acknowledges several developments posing new challenges to those managing websites and other forms of online communication. The impact of social media, the development of hyperlocal and community websites, the drive to open up public data for re-use, and the proliferation of mobile devices being used to access to the web, are all considered in the report.

Better connected 2010 is based largely on analysis of the annual survey of the 433 local authority websites in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland that has been carried out since 1999. This year, 46 other public sector sites were also assessed, including fire and police services, PTEs, RSLs and a range of other government and third sector bodies.

As in previous years, a lengthy (120-question) survey was carried by a team of reviewers in November and December. Around half of the questions were designed to test the information content of websites by focussing on the six topics that generate the most visits to council websites, namely:

• jobs
• library services
• schools
• family history
• planning
• rubbish collection

The remainder of the questions assessed performance around the essential and other criteria used by Better connected to assess website performance, including currency, links, transactions, location, navigation, A-Z, search, and accessibility.

Results of five additional surveys, were carried out by individual members of the team outside the main survey, are reported in Better connected 2010:

• how quickly and well do councils respond to a random e-mail enquiry (see note 9 below, test carried out November 2009)
• extent to which a 'top tasks' approach has been effectively applied (December 2009)
• how well do out of hours phone messages promote the website (December 2009)
• how well do council websites work on mobile devices (January 2010)
• how well did council websites respond to disruption caused by severe weather (January 2010). A report on this survey has already been published with the title Twitter gritters: council use of digital channels in local emergencies.

Other information sources used for the report are:

• The Socitm Insight Website take-up service used by 121 councils (nearly 28% of the total) in January 2010.
• Review of government forms toolkit by Effortmark
• Website accessibility review by RNIB
• Website readability tested by The Writer
• Benchmarking of various technical measures by SiteMorse
• Access to the internet data from Ipsos MORI
• Data on usage of websites from Hitwise
• Visitor feedback on 59 councils from GovMetric

Commenting on the findings of Better connected 2010, Martin Greenwood, programme manager for Socitm Insight and author of the report, said: 'Given the urgent need for councils to deliver more for less, it is really disappointing that the performance of this lowest cost service delivery channel seems to have stagnated over the last year. This should not be taken as a criticism of web managers, many of whom do an excellent job with limited resources. Rather, responsibility lies with councils' top management, many of whom still do not recognise the key role of the website in reducing corporate costs through the efficient management of customer enquiries.'

Better connected 2010 (the Main Report) will be available to Socitm Insight subscribers from 1 March 2010. An expanded version of all the results (the Full Results Report) will also be available from 9 March 2010, but only as an electronic version. Non-subscribers will be able to buy a printed version of the Main Report (available from mid-March) at a cost of £415 (£395 for Socitm members in non-subscribing organisations). It can be ordered from www.socitm.net

Spreadsheets available to subscribers include:

• A summary of the results of the main survey, together with the supporting surveys

• An index of council references contains all references to examples of good practice, entries in the lists of top sites etc, so that subscribers have a quick reference to their council

• A summary of the accessibility results brings together all the detailed information about the accessibility assessments produced from the three stages of the testing process, using the automated testing software and RNIB expertise, and highlighting those who have passed or failed the Level A and Level AA standards (and the reasons why).

For the first time, a summary of the results for all local authorities will be made available as open data under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA licence on www.socitm.net .

Further information

Vicky Sargent, Socitm Press Office

Tel: 07726 601 139 email: vicky.sargent@socitm.net

Martin Greenwood, Programme Manager, Socitm Insight

Tel: 01926 498703 or 07967 383755 e-mail: martin.greenwood@socitm.net

Notes for Editors

Socitm Insight runs the the Web improvement and usage community within the IDeA Communities of Practice. The space enables networking and the sharing of ideas and best practice around all aspects of website development, content and take-up. More than 700 people have joined the community since the space was launch last year. The community will host discussion around Better connected 2010 and anyone interested is welcome to join and get involved. Registration is at www.communities@idea.gov.uk.

Additional information

1 Better connected top 20 council websites in 2010

(brackets denote year site last in top twenty)

• Allerdale BC (2009)
• Bath & North East Somerset (New)
• Brent (2009)
• Buckinghamshire CC (New)
• Cambridgeshire CC (2001)
• Chichester DC (2008)
• East Sussex CC (2009)
• Exeter City (2005)
• Gloucestershire CC (2008)
• Newcastle upon Tyne City (New)
• North Yorkshire CC (New)
• Oxfordshire CC (1999)
• Richmond (2008)
• Salford City (2009)
• Sefton MBC (New)
• South Ayrshire (New)
• South Holland DC (New)
• South Tyneside MBC (2009)
• Worthing BC (New)
• City of York (New)

2 How the research was done

This year's Better connected survey was carried out between 2 November and 14 December 2009. As in previous years, a team of reviewers carried out a structured survey with 120 questions for local authority websites. Using a structured questionnaire, the team explored the ability of websites to respond to the needs of a range of typical local authority customers, and to test performance in the areas of interactive applications; currency of information; usability; and responsiveness to e-mail.

3 The four star ranking system

The four star ranking is based on two elements:

• how many of the Better connected essential criteria (see below) have been met by the website to the specified performance standard
• the reviewer's overall score for the the website's quality, which can be 1 (poor); 2 (adequate); 2 (satisfactory); or 3 (very good)

Rank	Achievement of essential or other criteria	Overall reviewer rating
****	9 out of 9 (essential)	3
***	7 out of 9 (essential), or 4 out of 9 (essential)	2 3
**	3 out of 12 (any) or 5 out of 12 (any)	2 1
*	All others

4 Essential and other criteria using in the Better connected assessment

Essential criteria

Information: People find answers to their questions

Links elsewhere: People are referred to another organisation if the council does not have the information

Currency: People can rely on the site being up to date

Transactions: People can conduct business with the council

A-Z: People can find their way easily to a specific topic

Search: A specific word or phrase generally points people to the information they want

Navigation: People can rely on a clear and consistent style in finding their way around

Location: People can find information easily by using a map or postcode (or other similar)

Accessibility: People can use the site if they have a disability

Other criteria

News value: Does the content capture people's attention by its newsworthiness?

E-mail: Can people do business by e-mail with the council?

Participation: Do people have the opportunity to influence council policies and decisions?

Design of transactions : Can people use online forms and other transactions easily?

Resilience: Can people rely on the site to be available and working properly?

Readability: Can people understand what the site says?

Criteria	% sites achieving standard	change since BC 2009
Usefulness of content
Information	39%	Minor deterioration
Currency	61%	Little change
Links elsewhere	46%	Improvement
Transactions	38%	Minor deterioration
Usability
Use of A to Z	61%	Little change
Use of search engine	52%	Minor deterioration
Use of location	16%	Significant deterioration
Navigation	57%	Little change
Accessibility	28%	Little change

Note

Although we try to set the same standard as last year, it is not possible to do so precisely, because the number and difficulty of questions do vary. This explains why comparison is made in terms of words rather than strict percentages.

6 Percentage of three star and four star sites by type of council

• Shire counties -  66%
• London boroughs - 43%
• Metropolitan districts - 41%
• English unitaries - 25%
• Scottish unitaries - 22%
• Shire districts - 20%
• Welsh unitaries - 18%
• Northern Ireland districts - 4%

7 Performance of other public sector websites

Using a shorter questionnaire based on the local authority survey, 46 websites from some other organisations that subscribe to Socitm Insight were assessed including:

• Six passenger transport executives (PTEs)
• Nine fire services
• Five police services
• Nine registered social landlords (RSLs)
• Four central government agencies (England)
• Two regional government organisations (England)
• Two devolved administrations
• Six government bodies (Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland)
• Three other organisations (eg National Health Service, voluntary sector)

In general, most local government websites seem very good in comparison, but the report identifies the following as roughly equivalent to three star sites:

• Nexus Tyne & Wear PTE
• Strathclyde PTE
• Avon Fire Brigade
• Cheshire Fire Brigade
• London Fire & Emergency
• Devon & Cornwall Constabulary
• AmicusHorizon Group RSL
• Northern Ireland Housing Executive RSL
• Wakefield & District Housing RSL
• Meat Hygiene Service
• States of Jersey
• NI Civil Service (NI Direct)
• Action for Children
• Aston University

8 Additional testing and surveys in 2009 (done by the BC team unless specified)

Five additional surveys were carried out by individual members of the team outside the main

survey:

• E-mail (November 2009)
• Top tasks (December 2009)
• Phone contact details (December 2009)
• Mobile devices (January 2010)
• Severe weather (January 2010)

A number of other useful sources of information are used for the report including

• Socitm Insight Website take-up service used by 121 councils (nearly 28%) in January 2010.
• Review of forms toolkit by Effortmark
• Website accessibility review by RNIB
• Website readability tested by The Writer
• Benchmarking of various technical measures by Sitemorse
• Access to the internet data from Ipsos MORI
• Data on usage of websites from Hitwise
• Visitor feedback on 59 councils from GovMetric

9 The e-mail test

Dear sir\madam

What practical steps has the council taken to

reduce its carbon footprint?

Yours sincerely

Miss Kerry Roderick

kerryroderick@gmail.com

10 Report contents summary

Section 1 Introduction

We introduce the key features of the survey, including its purpose, the process we follow, the

ranking system and the 'useful, usable and used' framework that we use for assessment.

Section 2 National policies and direction

We offer an overview of national policies, initiatives and legislation that will have a strategic impact on the development of websites in the next three to five years.

Section 3 Overview of this year's results

We provide the national picture in terms of overall rankings using our new system for ranking sites based on stars (one star to four stars). This is followed by our Top 20, our analysis by type of council, our view of improvement trends and, finally, an examination of some of our favourite sites.

Section 4 This year's results - useful content

We describe the detailed analysis of the results, focusing firstly on content. We report here on the

information content about six common topics that might interest typical visitors, and then examine

other aspects of content such as use of links, currency of information, news value, provision of

services, response to e-mail and the practice of participation.

Section 5 This year's results - usability

The second stage of the results focuses on ease of use. This covers use of navigational aids such as A to Z lists, search engines and locational data, general navigation, accessibility, readability and, finally, technical resilience. All these points contribute to the usability of a local authority website.

Section 6 This year's results - usage

Our third perspective is focused on usage. Switching from the product to the customer, we

examine different aspects of the demand side, highlighting trends in take-up and visitor feedback.

We provide the latest information about internet access, visitor usage and satisfaction, culminating with advice about better marketing.

Section 7 New stage in evolution of websites

Having analysed in detail the current state of council websites, and how they are being used, we

now turn to some important challenges in the next stage of their evolution as councils face the

reality of being committed to self-service. Two challenges in particular stand out: how to manage

top web tasks and how to use different ways of communicating online.

Section 8 Development of last year's strategic approach

Last year we provided a blueprint for the way in which public sector websites should respond to

the challenge of making self-service work in the next five years. Here, we develop that blueprint

further in responding to these two new challenges.

Section 9 Conclusions

11 A note on collaborators in Better connected 2009

Socitm would like to thank the following organisations for their contributions to this report.

Their advice has helped to add balance with a number of different perspectives:

• Effortmark (www.effortmark.com)
• GovMetric (www.govmetric.co.uk)
• Hitwise UK (www.hitwise.co.uk)
• Ipsos MORI Social Research Institute (www.ipsos-mori.com)
• RNIB (www.rnib.org.uk)
• SitemorseTM plc (www.sitemorse.com)
• The Writer (www.thewriter.com)