Pathfinder Project - Wolverhampton Bereavement Centre
Wolverhampton launched the country's first e-bereavement service to help local people deal with the paperwork following the death of a loved one.
The initiative - part of the city's one-stop Bereavement Centre - also included experimenting with video conference links in Bilston health centre, Compton Hospice and Bushbury crematorium.
The service enables people to register deaths as well as deal with other matters such as cancelling benefits, tenancies and Social Services, sorting out probate and tax, and informing the DVLA, library service and passport office. It also helps put people in touch with counselling and support services.
Wolverhampton's Bereavement Centre opened in April 2001 and was further developed during 2001-2 as one of 25 Local Government Online Pathfinder projects.
What was the project about?
The pathfinder project added to the existing Bereavement Centre by introducing electronic back office processes that enabled internal and external agencies to be electronically notified of a death.
A new web based application was implemented in the Centre, assisting staff in providing a high quality service to the bereaved. This application meets all government (e-GIF) standards and runs on a standard internet technology.
The application provided a model for future Wolverhampton and national projects where information sharing is involved.
The video link enabled people who were unable to get into the Bereavement Centre to talk to staff in the Civic Centre for advice and information on registering a death.
What issues did the project raise?
The project raised many of the key issues for e-government services in general:
- the ownership of information
- the legal restrictions under which the partner services operate
- identification (how do we uniquely reference the person we are talking about?)
- authentication (is the person/agency who sent this message who they claim to be?)
- security (could anyone else intercept the information?)
- how local and central government agencies share information
Who was involved?
The existing Bereavement Centre partnership was augmented by key ICT partners whose resources and expertise enabled us to achieve results within the very tight timescale of the Pathfinders:
What has been achieved?
The Project is now completed and the Bereavement Centre continues to deliver a joined-up service using its products.
The process analysis of the information flows involved is available here:
