This report highlights the challenges faced by people across a broad range of demographics and the barriers they encounter when dealing with government services online. It highlights that ‘digital' is not always best and that retaining ‘human’ services is a critical part of ensuring that wellbeing is supported and enhanced. The report provides a number of recommendations about the way public services should be shaped into the future and how the government should ensure that the core social infrastructure provided by the CAB is sustainably resourced and supported.

Recommendations

The experiences of digitally excluded CAB clients shared in this report reinforce the need for government services to be designed and provided in ways that support all New Zealanders to participate fully in society. This is about recognising the challenges that some people face as a result of things being online and taking steps to ensure that services are accessible and processes support inclusion. To achieve this, it is recommended that in its delivery of public services the government must:

1. Provide genuine choice
2. Address barriers to inclusion
3. Ensure services are people-centred 
4. Increase support for intermediaries