Life events

The Customer Service Commission supports customer initiatives through helping agencies understand customer needs to providing expert advice on implementation. This is a program we have supported.

Life Journeys 90sec from Department of Customer Service on Vimeo.

Issue

There are some common life events that people experience, such as starting a family, starting school or retiring. However, the information that people need during these times is distributed across many different government and non-government sources. And it can often be inconsistent, incomplete or difficult to navigate.

What the NSW Government is doing

The NSW Government is gathering together key information for common life events and presenting it in a clear and ordered way for users.

The process is underpinned by research. We collect user insight and advice through regular interviews, comprehension tests, usability research and workshops. And we also utilise research from other state and federal government departments.

We take a collaborative approach with agencies, bringing together people from across government to talk about the best way to provide information to users.

What was achieved

In August 2019, the NSW Government launched the Life Events information service; a significant step forward in making government easy. It provides people with information on their options, obligations, entitlements during common life events, such as:

• end of life
• starting and growing a family
• retirement
• serious illness and injury
• jobs and Careers
• schooling
• natural disasters
• living in NSW

This work is just the beginning and content is continually evolving as we continue cross-agency collaboration and research with users.