Single Customer Account

 

Designing a single front door for HMRC services

The Single Customer Account (SCA) programme of work from HMRC is a long-term initiative to create a single digital platform for taxpayers to interact with HMRC. The SCA aims to replace the current system of multiple websites and portals, and will provide taxpayers with a single place to manage their tax affairs.

HMRC has set out a number of key objectives for the project. These objectives include:

  • Making it easier for taxpayers to manage their tax affairs: The SCA will provide taxpayers with a single place to view and manage their tax information, pay their taxes, and communicate with HMRC.

  • Improving the customer experience: The SCA will be designed to be user-friendly and easy to use. HMRC will also work to improve the customer experience by providing better support and guidance to taxpayers.

  • Reducing the cost of tax administration: The SCA is expected to reduce the cost of tax administration by streamlining the processes that taxpayers and HMRC need to follow.

What I did

My core focus within the Single Customer Account was building enabling patterns. Initially our team was given the scope of creating a digital service, however following multiple rounds of research we understood the scope of the work needed to shift to provide value to HMRC.

I worked with cross-department teams to understand how people interact with government services online. We explored user needs around trust, security and convenience - whilst directly challenging assumptions of what was required for users. Constructively balancing the needs of citizens with the needs of HMRC our team developed a suite of user needs and principles for user centred development.

What was initially discussed as a digital service developed into a data architecture pattern for other HMRC teams to ensure HMRC’s records are standardised and accessible for HMRC digital services. Creating patterns and reusable components saves time for other teams, standardising journeys for citizens and saving stakeholders time and money.

The SCA has the potential to be a major transformation for HMRC and for taxpayers. The SCA could make it easier for taxpayers to manage their tax affairs, improve the customer experience, and reduce the cost of tax administration.

Outcome

  • Clear evidence of what users expect from a ‘one account’ experience

  • User journeys mapped across government, across multiple services and technologies

  • Prototype patterns to be used across government and HMRC

Lessons learned

What was initially positioned as a citizen need was revealed to be a government need to help support multiple tech stacks. Our framing of the problem supported development across the entirety of government with new data collection standards and metadata taxonomies.