The availability of public sector services through digital self-service is predicted to grow 310% over the next three years, according to new research.

A survey of 355 senior managers in the public sector, carried out by supplier GOSS Interactive, found that two-thirds have plans to deliver more than half of services through self-service by 2018.

Organisations expect to save £1.42m from self-service in the next 12 months, with 12% expecting to save £3m or more. The total average savings per organisation over three years is predicted at £8.42m.

Rob McCarthy, chief executive at GOSS Interactive, said:  “The next 12 months will be a critical time, with many organisations planning to significantly increase self-service to address budget deficits and improve service delivery.

“To this end, public sector organisations are working hard to deliver an integrated end-to-end approach to digital in general and self-service in particular.”

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He said that analysis of GOSS clients’ web traffic shows that more than 40% of public sector transactions take place outside office hours.

New research shows the availability of public sector services through digital self-service is expected to grow by 310% over the next three years*, with public sector organisations expecting to save £8.74 million each over the same period.

The survey revealed that rubbish and recycling is the service area expected to have the most impact for digital self-service in the next 12 months.

Council tax, planning and housing are also high priority strategic areas for the online self-service agenda.

Paul O’Rourke, performance manager at Wolverhampton City Council, said: “By making tip permits available through online self-service, we’ve achieved over 180 monthly requests, removed administration tasks, improved recycling centre management and delivered a 24/7 service with SMS reminders for customers. We achieved return on investment in less than two months.”

Mandy Jones, customer demand and research manager at Colchester Borough Council said: “We have already achieved a 56% improvement in online engagement in the first few months after launching a new top task website and cutting 4,000 pages down to just over 1,000.  

“It has laid the groundwork for us to introduce wider digital self-service and has helped us realise £300,000 of savings last year. We’re on budget for £400,000 savings this year.”