Ignacia Orellana

Helping users prepare for Brexit across the GOV.UK programme

by Ignacia

Screenshot of the start page on GOV.UK for the Brexit checker. It reads "Check how to get ready for new rules in 2021.

Context

A big challenge for GOV.UK in recent years has been
 helping citizens and business owners understand the impact of Brexit
, and making sure they know how to prepare for it, according to their circumstances.

Additionally, because the outcome of negotiations with the EU were unknown at the time,  the programme had to prepare for every possible scenario in advance.

My role and approach

I worked at pace with content designers and developers to design and deliver the ‘Get ready for Brexit’ checker to help users and businesses understand what they need to do if impacted by Brexit. This tool provided users with support from 2019 to 2021 when it was retired.

I also helped teams across the programme to understand the Brexit landscape on GOVUK, spotting gaps in our service provision, and supporting teams to be aware of each other's work and join up where needed.

I did this through:

  • running workshops across 5 different multidisciplinary teams on GOVUK to identify overlaps, duplications, and opportunities
  • analising the live Brexit checker using quantitative and qualitative data
  • mapping the Brexit landscape on GOVUK to spot gaps
  • setting up processes for the team to prepare and action on different
 possible scenarios for Brexit and to implement changes as 
quickly as possible.

Results

The ‘Get Ready for Brexit’ checker tool went live in 2019 and helped users prepare for Brexit until 2021 when it was retired.

We were able to create an improved user journey on GOV.UK by bringing teams together to reduce complexity for users. As a result, we were able to retire things that were duplicating content, like the Business Finder.

I helped set up processes in the team to action on different
 possible scenarios for Brexit and to implement changes as 
quickly as possible.

Sketched logic tree and criteria to develop the Brexit checker

Image of a person standing next to a whiteboard. The whiteboard has a sketch of a set of criteria and logic to determine different journeys according to users circumstances...

Launched the 'Get ready for Brexit' tool on GOV.UK

Image of a mockup of a smartphone view and a desktop view, both with the Brexit checker tool on its screen. The title of the image is 'Brexit checker'. On the left is the mobile view which has the start button to access the Brexit checker. On the right is the desktop view which show the results page user see at the end of the journey through the Brexit checker

Image of a hand holding a smartphone. The view is a closeup of the screen that show the GOV.UK page for Brexit. It reads: Brexit: new rules are here

Facilitated workshops with teams to analyse data and user research on current live user journey and plan for iterations

An image of a group of people looking at a journey flow printed against the wall.

Screenshot of a journey flow from the live Brexit Checker. There are screenshot of different screens, with notes on data and user research insights.

Mapped the Brexit teams, products & guidance on GOV.UK

Screenshot of a map that show all the guidance, transactions, and teams related to Brexit across the GOV.UK GDS programme.

With Will Harmer, Mark Woods, Neil Hayes, and the teams on GOV.UK