UK leading Europe on mobile-friendly government sites

The UK public sector is the only one in Europe to provide mobile-friendly websites across domains, according to research released by the European Commission.

The 12th Benchmark Measurement of European eGovernment Services, carried out by the Capgemini Group, showed that public organisations in the UK are well prepared for a rapid growth in mobile usage.

It found that the UK’s performance contrasted with the rest of Europe, where overall only one in four public sector websites are mobile friendly.

“Mobile usage went up from 10 per cent to 25 per cent in just a few months after the UK replaced the standard and mobile versions of Directgov with GOV.UK, which uses a responsive design to adapt to different screen sizes,”  the report said.

It added that the number of mobile internet users was increasing faster (306 per cent in two years) than the EU average (138 per cent over the same period).

The UK would be able to increase digitisation through work to authenticate users and improving transparency of service delivery and personal data, according to the study.

In addition, it said that more could be done to increase personalisation of online public services, “in particular as regards mobile accessibility, transparency and the simplification of services”.

Users still face considerable barriers in the ease of using services, the report found.

On a positive note, users gained better access to their personal data handled on government websites by five percentage points to 52 per cent from last year.

However, only very few online transactions are possible when applying for public services in a different European Union country.

Dinand Tinholt, vice president and global EU account director at Capgemini, said: “Europe must embrace the power of modern technology to transform public services to keep up with other regions globally.

“Europe is currently in a position of potential. The key question is whether it can use that potential to truly deliver an advantage.”