Remove any laws that mean government communication has to be sent by post. In it's place have a government mailbox for each citizen that is tied to a unique personal identifier such as the National Insurance number.
Making it work:
-
All government communication to be available in your mailbox within 3 years (including local council, HMRC, DWP etc.)
-
Only email from government addresses allowed as incoming with careful control of what communication is permitted
-
Partner with a Google type organisation where an extra 60 million mailboxes would mean little extra effort using the cloud
-
Add extra security as banks do to protect accounts
-
£100 tax break for all adopters in first year to speed mass adoption (paid for by massive reduction in postage and printing costs over several years)
-
In future add features/apps that let you access your information like tax returns, allowances etc. with the next step letting you complete forms and returns
-
Add a library feature for easy access to government information relevant to you
-
Have a forward email to your normal email address or notification facility by SMS text or email
-
Suitable support for those that cannot access the internet although an increase in library based access might help.
-
Reduce voter fraud and administration by having suitable security to allow voting
-
Look at the possibilities of letting everyone have a vote regularly on individual issues rather than making compromises with your vote by electing a party that you support for one reason but disagree on others (Maybe a step to far in my life time but worth considering)
The Government Gateway already exists but is massively limited in what you can do.
Why does this matter?
-
Saves paper and postage
-
Immediate delivery and responses
-
Keeps records, no more lost paper
-
Minimal cost using the cloud
-
Pays for itself quickly
-
Makes the UK a more attractive place to live and work (anything that makes life easier and frees up time adds to your quality of life in today's overloaded society)
-
The future is online, unless we plan and act now we will be left behind as a country