Looking Local Limited

BetterOff: Housing Benefit & Council Tax Reduction

BetterOff: HB/CTR focuses on the high-volume Housing Benefit/Council Tax Reduction (HB/CTR) form in a digital-first, fully supported solution with back-end integration and a range of assisted digital tools. Designed by public sector partners and based on the successful BetterOff: Welfare & Employment solution, it offers 100% online form completion.

Features

• Fully managed cloud solution
• User-centred designed digital-first HB/CTR form with embedded multi-media guidance
• Fully integratable with major back-end benefits systems
• Underpinned by HB/CTR entitlement calculator
• Range of assisted digital tools including form co-production
• Multiple log-in and ID verification mechanisms supported
• Self-service account recovery process
• Dynamic personalised supporting evidence lists and upload facility
• Intuitive design, responsive & mobile friendly with Offline functionality
• Range of reporting tools

Benefits

• Self-service solution for 100% of HB/CTR claimants
• Wide ranging integration benefits
• Supports and encourages advocate use
• Redefines complex paper-based process
• Reduces revenues & benefits budget
• Offers local tailoring of forms based individual council needs
• Reduces contact
• Clear and intuitive ‘end of form’ process
• Speeds up benefit application process
• Standalone solution or as part of BetterOff: Welfare & Employment

£10,000 to £30,000 an instance a year

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at guy.giles@lookinglocal.gov.uk. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 12

Service ID

537521667009466

Contact

Guy Giles
0845 434 8540
guy.giles@lookinglocal.gov.uk

Service scope

• Software add-on or extension: Yes, but can also be used as a standalone service
• What software services is the service an extension to: BetterOff: Welfare & Employment
• Cloud deployment model: Public cloud
• Service constraints: No
• System requirements: N/A

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: No
• Phone support: Yes
• Phone support availability: 9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
• Web chat support: No
• Onsite support: No
• Support levels: As part of our commitment to provide first class support, our proposals include the provision of “1st Line Support” throughout the life of the solution. This will be a call centre number that visitors or users of the solution can ring 24/7/365 to report issues like loss of service, orphaned content, or general presentation issues. Detailed response times would be covered in our SLA although they are generally between 2 business hours and 24hrs depending on the severity of the issue, and recovery times of 4-8 business hours - again depending on the severity or the issue. The costs for this support are included in the overall ongoing management costs (e.g. hosting, content refreshes). Each deployment comes with a dedicated technical manager to handle support requests, identify the issue and update stakeholders on progress in a timely fashion. Customised, higher levels of support are available on request and costed based on needs.
• Support available to third parties: Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: Full onsite training to up to 8 staff users. BetterOff: Housing Benefit & Council Tax Reduction is a customer and agent-focused solution, which has been through significant user testing and is straightforward in its operation and usability. Training is therefore focused on internal culture change in terms of staff and the move to digital-first service delivery, rather than how to use the solution itself.
• Service documentation: No
• End-of-contract data extraction: We provide the data on demand.
• End-of-contract process: At the end of the contract any user data is returned to the customer in a format of their choosing. All data is then destroyed in accordance with our data destruction policy. Analysis, deployment, customisation, testing and ongoing management are all included as part of the initial contract. Work carried out outside of the terms of the contract (e.g. change requests or out-of-scope features) are charged on our regular time & materials basis.

Using the service

• Web browser interface: Yes
• Supported browsers:
  • Internet Explorer 11
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Firefox
  • Chrome
  • Safari 9+
  • Opera
• Application to install: No
• Designed for use on mobile devices: Yes
• Differences between the mobile and desktop service: N/A
• Service interface: Yes
• Description of service interface: The service is web-based and can be accessed via a browser using an intuitive, accessible user interface
• Accessibility standards: WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
• Accessibility testing: All solution deployments are tested against WCAG 2.1 AA standards or higher where possible. Some aspects are AAA compliant but we try to achieve a balance between accessibility and browser coverage and have found that AAA compliance sometimes rules out older browsers to the detriment of other users. The solution is tested using a variety of assistive technology interfaces from Windows Narrator to Jaws.
• API: No
• Customisation available: Yes
• Description of customisation: Style (look and feel) is managed by Looking Local based on client requirements.

Scaling

• Independence of resources: The solution is hosting in an 'elastic' environment within the EU that offer a broad set of global compute, storage, database, analytics, application, and deployment services that scale on demand applications. This generally ensures that users are never affected by performance issues.

Analytics

• Service usage metrics: Yes
• Metrics types: The service provides a full audit trail via a management console. This covers access times and published dates along with the standard Google Analytics of Audience Demographics, Real Time Behaviour, Geo Locations and session data. In addition business metrics are provided covering a range of areas.
• Reporting types:
  • API access
  • Reports on request

Resellers

• Supplier type: Not a reseller

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Staff screening not performed
• Government security clearance: Up to Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS)

Asset protection

• Knowledge of data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Data storage and processing locations: European Economic Area (EEA)
• User control over data storage and processing locations: No
• Datacentre security standards: Complies with a recognised standard (for example CSA CCM version 3.0)
• Penetration testing frequency: At least once a year
• Penetration testing approach: ‘IT Health Check’ performed by a CHECK service provider
• Protecting data at rest:
  • Physical access control, complying with CSA CCM v3.0
  • Scale, obfuscating techniques, or data storage sharding
• Data sanitisation process: Yes
• Data sanitisation type:
  • Explicit overwriting of storage before reallocation
  • Deleted data can’t be directly accessed
• Equipment disposal approach: A third-party destruction service

Data importing and exporting

• Data export approach: Buyers can export analytics data on an ad hoc basis from within the Google Analytics console console. Buyers may request bulk data export on decommissioning of the service. Individual service users may download their prior applications from within the product.
• Data export formats:
  • CSV
  • Other
• Other data export formats:
  • ANSI SQL
  • PDF/A
• Data import formats: Other
• Other data import formats: N/A

Data-in-transit protection

• Data protection between buyer and supplier networks: Private network or public sector network
• Data protection within supplier network:
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway

Availability and resilience

• Guaranteed availability: Historically, our availability has remained above 99.5%. Our solution is monitored in real time and SMS alerts are relayed to our technicians in the event of an outage lasting more than a few seconds. Refunds would be negotiated if uptime falls below this benchmark but handled on a case-by-case basis. For example, the absence of a third party API that is consumed by the solution cannot be attributed to loss of service.
• Approach to resilience: Resilience information is available on request but built into the solution at the outset.
• Outage reporting: The solution is monitored by Uptime Robot and notifies technicians of any outages via SMS notification, email, and API to dedicated Slack channels.

Identity and authentication

• User authentication needed: Yes
• User authentication:
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • Username or password
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: Access to management interfaces are restricted using either IP address or with secure login and OTP.
• Access restriction testing frequency: At least once a year
• Management access authentication:
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • Username or password
  • Other
• Description of management access authentication: IP address restriction

Audit information for users

• Access to user activity audit information: Users contact the support team to get audit information
• How long user audit data is stored for: Between 1 month and 6 months
• Access to supplier activity audit information: Users contact the support team to get audit information
• How long supplier audit data is stored for: Between 1 month and 6 months
• How long system logs are stored for: Between 1 month and 6 months

Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: No
• ISO 28000:2007 certification: No
• CSA STAR certification: No
• PCI certification: No
• Other security certifications: Yes
• Any other security certifications: Cyber Essentials

Security governance

• Named board-level person responsible for service security: Yes
• Security governance certified: Yes
• Security governance standards: CSA CCM version 3.0
• Information security policies and processes: We have an ethical, legal and professional duty to ensure that the information the solution holds conforms to the principles of confidentiality, integrity and availability. We endeavour to ensure that the information we hold or are responsible for is safeguarded where necessary against inappropriate disclosure; is accurate, timely and attributable; and is available to those who should be able to access it. As such we have our own Information Security Policy in place that covers processes such as Legal & Regulatory Obligations, Information Classification, Compliance, Policy Awareness, Disciplinary Procedures, Incident Handling and Codes of Practice. We ensure this policy is enforced by periodic review of the Information Services Manager.

Operational security

• Configuration and change management standard: Supplier-defined controls
• Configuration and change management approach: We use a change management tracking service called Jira to ensure that any configuration or change management requests are accurately documented, prioritised and carried out in a timely fashion. We use version control to decide whether the change constitutes as step change in the fabric of the solution and carry out regular penetration testing if the change presents a potential security issue.
• Vulnerability management type: Supplier-defined controls
• Vulnerability management approach: We are members of a number of accredited bodies, including the Cyber Security Information Sharing Partnership (CiSP), that share information on new or emerging security issues. Any potential threats presented are assessed for severity either by our CTO or by a third party CHECK or CREST accredited body and acted upon accordingly.
• Protective monitoring type: Supplier-defined controls
• Protective monitoring approach: We give any security related incidents the highest priority. We have monitoring software that detects abnormal activity and provides SMS alerts if unusual patterns of activity are detected. In the event of a potential breach, the situation is assessed for severity and an appropriate response is coordinated immediately
• Incident management type: Supplier-defined controls
• Incident management approach: Users can report incidents via our 24 hour telephone support helpdesk, via our incident reporting software or via email to the Technical Support Manager. Most incidents do fit a common type and have appropriate processes in place to deal with them. Non common incidents are dealt with on an ad hoc basis and followed up with an incident report to the stakeholders depending on the severity.

Secure development

• Approach to secure software development best practice: Supplier-defined process

Public sector networks

• Connection to public sector networks: No

Pricing

• Price: £10,000 to £30,000 an instance a year
• Discount for educational organisations: No
• Free trial available: No

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at guy.giles@lookinglocal.gov.uk. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.