Help HMRC to help us

One of my roles (when I’m not  running my business www.disabilitydynamics.co.uk or Baking Blind www.bakingblind.com) is trying to advise  HMRC on making services more accessible.

They are currently looking for self-employed people or business owners who are registered for VAT and who use adaptive software (for example, screen magnification or a screen reader) and who handle their own tax affairs.

They are seeking willing volunteers who will assist HMRC in improving  the experience of users with access needs.

There are two parts to the VAT service:

• The ‘Sign Up’ journey, which involves basically signing up for the service, and
• The ‘View and Change’ part, where users can update their details and make VAT payments, etc.

To help them evaluate this service to the customer, the team are looking to recruit assistance from two user groups:

• Accountants who represent business owners, and deal with tax affairs on behalf of their clients.

( The team are very eager to recruit access needs users who are accountants and although they estimate the low possibility of this, it would be extremely beneficial to their work.)

• Unrepresented users who are dealing with their tax affairs themselves.

(The team hope that unrepresented users would be easier to recruit, although these users must be customers that actually run a business and deal with their tax affairs themselves, but also have access needs and need the use of assistive technology to perform digital tasks.)

In terms of the actual research the team would conduct, they would be looking to organise face to face sessions with users, which would allow them to use their assistive technology to perform the tasks the team would assign.

The structure of the session would follow the pattern of providing the users with a scenario, which will be similar to their actual situation, and then give them a task to complete. So, for example, the ‘Sign Up’ task would simply be for the user to sign up to the service, whereas the ‘View and Change’ task would have a couple of different parts to it, which could be something such as changing a phone number or making a payment.

Matty, who works for Capgemini, would be pleased to assist any potential users by discussing further explanations and requirements with any interested parties.

If any customers are willing to assist or have any questions regarding this research, please contact Matty O’Carroll direct :

Matty O’Carroll | User Researcher | Customer Strategy & Tax Design | 07944 187124 | matthew.ocarroll@digital.hmrc.gov.uk