Check a service is suitable

[govuk-design-system]

Use this issue to discuss this pattern in the GOV.UK Design System.

[sanjaypoyzer]

Sometimes this pattern is presented as two seperate services on gov.uk. (e.g Apply for a visa and Check if you need a visa)

Should this be included in the pattern? Feels like we should be clear about this either way as it's a thing in The Wild.

[jonathaninch]

Example service checker is still called 'Check before you start'? https://check-before-you-start-pattern.cloudapps.digital/

[Dean-A-Smith]

Use this issue to discuss this pattern in the GOV.UK Design System.

Link above is broken, use this instead: https://design-system.service.gov.uk/patterns/check-a-service-is-suitable/

[paulmsmith]

Adding this here as an example from the NHS Business Service Authority: Check what help you could get to pay for NHS costs

URL: https://services.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/check-for-help-paying-nhs-costs/start

[Sarah-Lombardi]

Apply for New Style Employment and Support Allowance introduced an eligibility checker to help users understand a complex and unfamiliar policy. https://www.apply-new-style-employment-support-allowance.service.gov.uk/eligibility-start

Couple of differences to the pattern though:

• we mostly could not say they definitely were or were not eligible as there was still some human judgement needed in some cases so we used more vague language like 'may be' or 'may not be'
• in a couple of cases we could be more certain - whether they are over state pension age or are receiving statutory sick pay (and will continue to receive for more than 3 months after applying)
• given how complicated the eligibility was (as in it is not straightforward to say what is 'enough' National insurance), we ensured users could continue to apply anyway and did not reach a dead end - there was a real risk of providing inaccurate advice and stopping people from getting financial support they're entitled to

[connorgurney]

Hi all,

We're in the progress of building a service that currently requires a public sector email address to use.

We advertise this on the service start page and then redirect to an error message on a separate page if a user enters an email address that we don't think belongs to the public sector.

The copy we're using for the error message is as follows:

We don’t recognise your email address as being from the public sector

You need to use an email address that belongs to the public sector to create an account. This means one that has an ending such as .gov.uk, .nhs.uk or .police.uk.

If you work in the public sector and think that this is a mistake, please contact us using your public sector email address and we’ll create your account for you.

Otherwise, you can join our waitlist and we’ll let you know when you can create an account.

I wonder if anyone please has any guidance on the following:

1. Should we add a question to establish eligibility long before we ask for the user's email address, or is putting this front and centre on the service start page likely to be sufficient?
2. Does the copy for the error message read okay? Is there anything that we should add or remove?

Thanks in advance.

Best, Con