Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council

Consistent and accessible digital self-service for citizens.

As part of Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council's ‘Transformation Programme’, the council chose to move from its existing technology provider to the full Jadu Digital Web Experience Platform, including Jadu Connect (Case Management) and Jadu Central (eForms and CMS). This was to enable the council with the tools it needed to deliver simple, intuitive, accessible and consistent digital self-service to its citizens.

The council also use the MyAccount functionality, Jadu Creative themes and integrations including Whitespace, GOV.UK Notify, Office 365 and more.

The Challenge

Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council’s technology stack was disjointed and the multiple systems it used weren’t connecting. This was costly, inefficient, and affected the citizens' digital experience. The council launched a new ‘Transformation Programme’ to rethink how it delivered digital self-service.

In addition, Welwyn Hatfield committed to making its online services accessible to all and needed a solution that met web accessibility standards (WCAG 2.1). It needed to have the capability and flexibility to scale to enable a streamlined citizen web experience.

The Solution

As part of its Transformation programme, Welwyn Hatfield chose Jadu Connect (Case Management and Forms) and Jadu Central (CMS) solutions.

The council chose ‘Helia’, one of Jadu’s Creative out-of-the-box themes which enabled an accessible website to be spun up, quickly and easily.

The adaptability and flexibility of themes meant Welwyn Hatfield could choose to launch the theme as standard and add the council’s branding, colours, fonts, logos etc or add additional customised modules.

The Helia theme they chose is an accessible by default (WCAG 2.1 AA compliant), service-focused design centred on delivering key information, and user-centred navigation to ensure citizens can find their way around the website quickly and easily.

The Results

Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council delivered its new website at speed whilst meeting accessibility WCAG 2.1 AA standards.

The council moved up 181 places on the Sitemorse INDEX of UK local council websites. Cost savings were seen, as design and build costs were significantly reduced by selecting a Jadu Creative theme.

Processes are now streamlined for both the employees and the citizens. Centralising systems, using low-code technology and providing a user-centred accessible design focused on navigation, has enabled citizens to access digital services quickly and effectively.

The website is the council's busiest access channel and it has seen less contact coming via other channels, this reduces the amount of time employees are spending on manual tasks.

Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council