Badgered, bullied and bribed by the EU to improve digitisation, online government services now pledge to simplify and improve the daily lives of the public, so why are so many users going round in circles, being directed to sites that don’t work or unable to fill in all the fields because they don’t apply to them?
The Sunday Mail has received a litany of complaints about a labyrinth of e-government dead ends, and it is definitely not always a matter of computer literacy.
The gov.cy online portal is the way to access e-government services, and once you’ve gone through the registration process a whole world of online applications are supposed to open. Except, they don’t always.
The deputy research, innovation and digital policy ministry says it can only do so much, as many of the online services offered are handled by the respective ministries themselves.
“Our main focus is to simplify and improve all citizen and business interactions with public authorities, facilitating at the same time their daily lives and activities,” the deputy ministry of research, innovation and digital policy told the Cyprus Mail.
“While gov.cy is designed to bring together a wide range of services under one roof, we recognise that references and links to external pages of government systems can create confusion. … Under each service we include the contact details of the responsible person and department/public body.”
That said, helplines do not always pick up and, when they do, the person on the other end of the line is often not able to offer any assistance.
And woe betide anyone who does not fit the narrow criteria of the online applications.
Our first example entails the simplest mistake, but who would ever have taken it as one? Antonis, (names in this article have all been changed), had desperately reached out for help, after failing over and over again to register his child online in a state high school for the coming academic year.
As numerous attempts online, emails to the service, phone calls to the helpline and queries to other parents did not produce any results and the deadline for enrolling was drawing perilously closer, Anthony reached out to the Cyprus Mail.
It finally surfaced that Antonis had been using ‘apt’ in the address field, while his wife had in the past used the word ‘apartment’, causing the system to throw him out every time. So simple, yet the cause of so much angst.
“As the deputy ministry of research, innovation and digital policy, we welcome and appreciate feedback from citizens regarding their experience with digital public services. It is important to us that these services are accessible, safe, easy to use, and meet the evolving needs of the public,” was the ministry’s response.
The next example is more serious. Cleo is one of many who have been trying – unsuccessfully – to apply online for unemployment benefit, but the system just won’t let her due to an unspecified “glitch”. After a few attempts, she visited the social insurance offices, where she was told by a senior officer that applications can only be submitted online and that she had to try every day until she got through.
The social insurance services said they would be filing a report to the technical services to fix the problem, however months down the line nothing has changed. Meanwhile, she is living off her rapidly diminishing savings.
“If the only option is digital, then they should make sure it works and, if it doesn’t, fix it,” she told the Cyprus Mail.
“Unless the civil service is made to look bad, they don’t really care about the impact.”
Aged 63, Brian has been given the runaround trying to get the estimated amount he is entitled to for his pension, the forms for which he was sent in December. It has proved an utterly thankless task.
First, he logged in several times to gov.cy where he has long had an account. When he clicked on the estimated pension icon, he kept getting ‘error validating known facts’.
He then emailed cyloginsupport who confirmed he had a gov.cy account but told him the problem was because “the combination of your identity card/ARC with your Social Insurance number cannot be found in the Social Insurance system”.
He thinks the problem is that when he originally started paying social insurance decades ago, he registered with the ID card number he was given in the 1980s. After Brexit, he then got permanent residence, and the number changed. But both numbers are registered with social insurance along with his social insurance number which has never changed.
Not to be deterred he then emailed [email protected]. The reply was: “according to our personal data security policy, no personal information of any person can be referred to or be disclosed by the Contact Centre via email. Please submit your query via the Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance and Welfare Benefits Administration Services Contact Centre telephone number.”
The helpline telephone number was given as 1450 which he has now called four times. They keep telling him his request has been prioritised, but no return call has been made.
Beyond frustrated, he went up to the main social insurance office in Nicosia. Again pointless – all they could do was inform him he was indeed eligible to claim his pension but could give no estimate of what it would be. They did give him yet another email address. That turned out to be defunct!
“It’s clear I am not the only one in this position. Yet I am asking such a simple question. Why can I not get an answer?”
Brian was not the only one to complain to the Cyprus Mail on the same issue and the deputy research ministry is trying to help with – you’ve guessed it – more online tools.
“Last December we deployed the Gov.cy Digital Assistant, an AI tool which can provide 24/7, real-time support to citizen queries, on a specific list of topics, which we are gradually increasing,” the deputy ministry said.
“Currently, the Digital Assistant can respond to questions about social insurance services, social welfare benefits and grants, the electronic identity (eID) and the Takata airbags, while soon it will be able to assist citizens in matters concerning immigration, education, consular processes, public procurement, and many more. Topics appear here”
“For any general questions or challenges users may encounter while navigating the portal, they may send us an email at [email protected].”
The list of issues goes on. Take Margarita for instance. She was trying to submit an application for a student grant for one of her children – you now have to do it online – but was unable to do so through her gov.cy account. She finally worked out that a link takes her to the finance ministry website, where after a while she was able to apply. This process, she said, was unnecessarily complicated and time-consuming and could have been made much easier for applicants.
Lydia probably has it worst. She was trying to apply for the single parent allowance. The application itself was lengthy and at almost every step she was required to upload supporting documents. Fair enough, until it came to the father. There she was requested to fill in how much he was giving her every month and upload the court order stipulating the amount. The father has never supplied a cent towards her child’s upbringing and there has never been a court order. She could not proceed.
“It is important to point out that while digitising more and more services – and also redesigning older ones – we are working closely with all competent authorities to simplify the relevant processes and streamline user journeys,” the deputy ministry told the Cyprus Mail.
And then there are the applications that are not yet open. Marina has been trying to apply for the child allowance, however the online window for applying is not open. She has been told to wait. However, without being approved for the allowance, she can’t get the subsidy for nursery school. As nursery schools are private, Marina needs the subsidy to cover part of the cost.
Digitalising procedures was supposed to make things easier, however so many problems have arisen, attributed to glitches in the system, such as a bunch of letters sent out by the state to deceased people, minor changes in status stripping people of the right to employment, disabled people being ping-ponged between the minimum guaranteed income (EEE) and disability allowances and receiving neither, to name but a few.
“While we know there is more work to be done, we are fully committed to making public digital services better, simpler, faster, and more accessible for all,” the deputy research ministry assured the Cyprus Mail.
We await with bated breath
How to access government digital services
To access the majority of services, registration with CY Login is required. Gradually, all government systems will be linked to this mechanism. All citizens are encouraged to proceed with their CY Login profile creation.
All CY Login accounts need to be authenticated. This ensures the secure and reliable identification of users across all public digital platforms, and is also the way to access the newest initiative, the Digital Citizen app. The Digital Citizen app allows users to create and save digital copies of their official documents on their phone, to demonstrate through relevant controls, instead of the physical document. User authentication for CY Login can be done through online banking, or via video call or personal visit to a Citizen Service Centre, upon appointment.
The deputy ministry said it has also recently introduced the electronic signing function for applications that have not been yet digitised. Using their eID – which citizens can get using the government subsidy scheme – they are able to electronically sign government documents and submit them via email to the relevant governmental departments, reducing the need for any physical presence.
Currently, this is possible for social insurance applications. Soon it will include new applications in this list. All relevant information can be found at the eID dedicated website www.idme.gov.cy.
CY Login access has also been recently given to minors between 14 and 18 years of age, as a way to access the Digital Citizen and save and use their ID card through the app. Identification for minors provides of course for adult consent, as one parent or guardian is required to also appear and identify themselves during the CSC physical or online appointment.
“Digital transformation is an ongoing process that includes modernising the technology backbone infrastructure of the government, redesigning services, reducing bureaucracy, improving the quality and speed of delivery, adopting new technologies and enhancing interoperability between departments. In this process, citizen input plays a key role in helping us build a digital state that works better for everyone,” the deputy research ministry said.
