Digital Access at Brent Council

The next Brent Council Cabinet has a report on Brent's customer services which continues to follow the trend away from face to face towards digital engagement.  In itself, that is no bad thing.  It can be quicker and cheaper and actually the preferred option of many people, but for a minority of people it may present a problem.

In particular, ministers have suggested that benefit claimants can increasingly access services using publicly available computers in libraries, but such computers tend to be in the open.  They are often sited in such ba way as to be open to public view, which is not suitable when inputting confidential data such as medical or financial information (as might well be the case with a benefit application).  This sort of thing needs to be carefully thought through if they are being increasingly relied on for such purposes.