Beyond The Screen: Part 6

Badly Drawn Forms: Why Mandatory Email Requirements Can Hinder Rather Than Help

In our recent social media post showing Victoria Road from Queen’s Park, we made a point about the wonky central road markings. When official processes feel complicated, it’s not always because someone did something wrong while trying to follow them. The system was just drawn that way.

One thing that clearly illustrates a badly drawn system is the current push toward mandatory email addresses.

Centuries of Paper vs. Two Decades of Technology

For hundreds of years, communication ran on physical paper, spoken word, and hand-delivered mail. Email only entered common, everyday use over the last 20 to 25 years. Expecting an entire population, including older generations, people with additional support needs, or people living in poverty, to seamlessly shift centuries of communication habits into a digital inbox in such a short window of history is asking a lot.

Yet, a growing number of public services, local council forms, housing applications, and support forms now make an email address a mandatory requirement.

Zero Margin for Error

As mentioned in a previous post, the “old fashion” postal system has human safety nets. If a house number is slightly smudged, a postal worker can usually figure it out.

Email offers no such grace:

• The Digital Void: Mistype a single letter, dot, or symbol, and your urgent application or confirmation message disappears into a digital void with no human intervention to catch the mistake or warn you. Or worse yet, you fill in a form and a system error deletes all your hard work! 

• An Unintended Barrier: Many people set up casual email addresses without a second thought, using handles like ilovetovape@…, sweetgirl1992@…, or old nicknames. When these addresses are forced into formal use for housing, benefits, or legal forms, it can create unnecessary awkwardness, security risks, and professional hurdles.

• Forced Identity: Forcing someone who doesn’t want an email address to create one simply creates a ghost account, one that will never be checked, leading to missed deadlines and cut-off services.

Systems Built for Efficiency, Not Reality

Moving services online saves administrative costs, but turning an email address into a mandatory requirement turns a basic contact detail into a gatekeeper. It either locks out the people who need support most or forces dependency on advice services and family members to complete simple life admin.

At The Well, our team works hard to bridge these gaps, but advocacy services shouldn’t have to act as a permanent workaround for poorly designed, inflexible systems.

The Reality of the Digital Divide

It’s easy to assume “everyone has an email address.” In reality, many of the people walking through our doors do not. The reasons for this can vary:

• Lack of Access: No personal device, internet connection, or affordable data.

• Language & Literacy: Navigating digital interfaces in a different language without support can be a big barrier even with online translation.

• Digital Overwhelm: Even those who do manage to use email may find managing an inbox overwhelming. An inbox flooded with junk, newsletters, or hundreds of unread messages can easily cause people to miss important invoices or official letters. It can also cause the inbox storage space to become full restricting incoming and outgoing email. You’d be surprised how many people have full email accounts and don’t know or realise they need to delete things to make space. 

• Personal Preference: Some individuals openly describe themselves as  “digital dinosaurs.” They aren’t interested in setting up or using a smartphone or learning online banking, yet they are forced to do so, or rely on someone else, just to access basic services.

 

Moving Forward

Digital options are great for those who can use them, but they must remain an option, not the only option. True accessibility means meeting people where they are, rather than trying to shoehorn them into where we want them to be and expecting it to work immediately.

It’s time to think about how we are drawing the system and shaping the future.