This is a post about the user having to do the hard work.
Before I get to that I want to recognise that this post reflects my personal experience, and my emotions. These are mine to own, but they are subjective. I recognise I am not the user, I am a user.
I also start with the assumption anyone who’s worked on this service has done so to the best of their abilities with the knowledge, skills, and tools available to them. Updating Government is hard, I get that.
Finding my way as an executor
Since my dad died a year ago I have been navigating the various systems his life touched as part of being executor of his estate.
Some of this has been made easier by processes like Tell Us Once, while other aspects have left me feeling confused, frustrated, or upset through too jarring a contact between the practicalities and emotions of dealing with a death. Some things have been sorted surprisingly easily, while others have provided me with extra work to do as a person faced with a process.
Enter HMRC and the outdated payment methods.
In my role I needed to pay HMRC some money from the estate to settle up my dad’s income tax. With no objection to their sums I just wanted to pay. The letter they sent informed me I could do this by sending them a cheque in the post.
A cheque in the post – how quaint! And by quaint I mean not the easiest payment method (for me) to use but the only method offered.
When did you last write a cheque?
There may well be some people reading this who understand cheques in the same way they understand phone boxes, penny farthings, or gathering around the wireless. They are aware of the purpose, but have never had to use one and so their understanding is of a historical artefact rather than direct familiarity. There will be others who look back on the writing of a cheque with a sense of nostalgia.
According to GoCardless cheques are still a valid form of payment in the UK, and this 2023 piece from PayPal says ‘thousands of Britons still use cheques every year‘. Is that a significant number? I don’t know. But I know that until today I was not among them.
When I finally located my cheque book I could see it had been 5 years since I last had cause to use it. I’d only used that cheque book 6 times in total spanning the 8 years before that. I think it’s fair to say it’s not been a regular choice in paying for stuff (for me) for quite some time.
But having patiently listened to the jazz-infused hold music and become more confused about my options having spoken to someone at HMRC I realised its time had come again, and use it I must.
Make me work to pay you
By this point I already feel I’ve had to work quite hard to fulfil the instruction to pay HMRC this money. I’ve:
- physically look for a cheque book including at one point seeing if I could get a replacement from my bank (I could not)
- spend my time trying to call to clarify if I had other options
- become confused, frustrated by that phone call
- become upset due to the phrasing used on the call – lots of ‘I can tell you how your dad can pay’ as if he were still alive (seems minor but it’s one of those jarring moments that make it easier for emotions to overwhelm the ability to do the practical task at hand)
- asked how to make a complaint (I really wanted to add something to the content design backlog for this service, if there is one but complaint was the closest thing I could ask for) was told to Google ‘HMRC complaints’ only to find over the phone was one of the options to do this
And now I had to remember how to write a cheque. I Googled it in the end to give myself the confidence I was doing it right.
You can find the user flow I sketched out spanning activities in online, post and phone channels plus a capture of my feelings at various steps on Miro.
And now we wait
This way of doing things is slow and in that slowness doubt can creep in.
The cheque has to be posted, and then presumably processed, and my confirmation will initially be seeing the money leave the account. Perhaps I will receive another letter somewhere down the line as further confirmation.
This seems, if I’m honest, archaic. And anxiety-inducing.
I’m prone to overthinking and anxiety and now I’ve realised there’s risk in sending a cheque I will have this on a back-burner in my brain until I can be sure everything is complete and the risk has passed. I didn’t really need an extra thing to worry about if I’m honest, and definitely didn’t need to pay for the privilege.
What could be different?
Don’t make paying you feel like a historical re-enactment
I understand that if you are doing this transaction for yourself (as an individual or business) you have different payment options through your account. I’ve seen some good content design in these areas (once you get logged in correctly) making it clear what you owe, or don’t.
Electronic payment options offer convenience, and speed. You can do it online without needing to get to a Post Office during the working day, and confirmation is almost immediate.
I’m not sure why other options weren’t open to me. Dad had unique identifiers (such as a national insurance number) and there was a reference number too (which I had to write out on the back of the cheque). I’d also been validated as executor when HMRC initially paid a rebate to me (also via a cheque – the difficulties of cashing will be saved for another post).
These details, I would think, could be used to facilitate a one off payment. I’m sure someone closer to the systems will know why this is an impossible dream but theoretically…possible if not plausible.
Help me not to make mistakes
Writing out by hand introduces a chance of user error. While not completely solved by electronic methods there could at least be validation you’ve entered things correctly (or at least as expected) and not mixed up / introduced ambiguity around things like 0 and O.
Help keep my identity safe
Cheques are safer than cash but hold a huge amount of personal information, and so can be used for identity fraud. I don’t feel good about having to put one in the post when more secure options to pay exist, and seem plausible given they are in use in other HMRC transactions.
Speak to me with clarity and kindness
I’m calling about a practical matter but I am still a grieving person, and we are – I think in this case – all human. Please consider the way you phrase things to minimise the upset and quickfire reminders that someone I loved is dead.
Do not expect me to do mental gymnastics to work out what I’m being told – given I have heightened emotions attached to this transaction please speak clearly and make this easy for me to understand.
Make the information you give me consistent
A basic of service and content design here – make sure the information is the same in all channels. Compared to what I received in the letter I’ve found differing information online and over the phone since.
Do the hard work and make things simple, right?
~
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