Beyond the Screen: Part 3

In our previous posts in this series, we explored how the push for digital efficiency often leaves behind those without the right devices or the confidence to use them. But what happens when you have the device, the skills, and a support worker by your side, and the technology still creates a wall you cannot easily climb?

Recently at The Well, we encountered another example of a “hidden” digital barrier: the rigidity of automated identity verification.

The Problem: A Document That Doesn’t “Fit”

An advisor was assisting someone with an online application for a National Entitlement Card (NEC) (a concessionary travel card) for bus travel around Scotland. The process is usually straightforward.  We guided our client through the form and when we reached the identity verification stage, we encountered our hidden barrier. 

The client is a resident in the UK but holds a UK Travel Document that allows them to travel internationally. Common reasons for having a Travel Document rather than a Passport include having refugee status, being stateless, having humanitarian protection or needing emergency travel while waiting for a Passport replacement.  

To the human eye, a Travel Document looks and functions like a Passport. It has a photo, contains biometric data, holographic security features, and is an official government-issued ID. However, when the advisor scanned it, the website repeatedly rejected it. 

The advisor spent a significant amount of time troubleshooting, doing things like trying different lighting, photographing instead of scanning the document, checking file sizes, converting the image type from pdf to jpeg, etc . After consulting with colleagues the advisor surmised that because the document was a “Travel Document” and not a “Passport,” the digital gatekeeper simply refused to let it through. So although the Travel Document looks, feels and functions very similar to a Passport, it is not always treated like a Passport for digital identification purposes. Sometimes the system is programmed to recognise a very narrow set of data found only on standard Passports. 

The Digital Dead-End

On the NEC website, the only two options for digital verification are a Passport or a photocard Driving Licence. If you don’t have exactly one of those two things, the online journey ends there. There is no “Other” button. There is no way to upload a different document for a human to review later.

 

This ‘digital efficiency’ comes at a cost. 

1. Time Poverty: What should have been a 15-minute application turned into a much longer session.
2. Frustration: The client had to sit through the anxiety of a system “rejecting” their identity.
3. Resource Drain: To solve the problem, we had to join a phone queue for the SPT Travel Unit.

The Human Solution

The irony is that when we finally reached a person at the SPT Travel Unit, the solution was simple. They were incredibly helpful and told us to simply email the documents directly to them so a human could process the application.

The “old fashioned” way, human-to-human communication, took minutes to resolve once we got through. But to get to that point, we had to navigate a digital system that wasn’t built for people with “non-standard” lives or documents.

Why This Matters

As more public services move to “Digital by Default,” we have to ask: Who are we designing these systems for?

If a system cannot recognise a UK Travel Document, it effectively discriminates against refugees and certain non-UK nationals who are legally entitled to these services. When we remove the human element from the “front door” of public services, we don’t just make things faster, we make them more exclusive.

At The Well, we will continue to stand in the gap, making the phone calls and sending the emails, ensuring that a “digital barrier” doesn’t stand in the way of someone’s right to move freely around their city.