Expert review improves a complex form by @cjforms

Expert review helps to improve a

complexform

Speaker and acknowledgments

Caroline Jarrett, Effortmark Ltd

Your speaker today

Contributed an expert review to this project

Lucy McKee, Department of Constitutional Affairs

Led the development of these forms

Contributed many months of work to this project

Form case study

Outline

The legislative background

Overview of development

The expert review

A twist in the tale

Coverage in the press

Form case study

Outline

The legislative background

Overview of development

The expert review

A twist in the tale

The principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005

A person must be assumed to have capacity unless it is established that the

person lacks capacity;

A person is not to be treated as unable to make a decision unless all practicable

steps to help the person to do so have been taken without success;

A person is not to be treated as unable to make a decision merely because the

person makes an unwise decision;

An act done, or decision made, under the Mental Capacity Act for or on behalf

of a person who lacks capacity must be done, or made, in the person’s best

interests; and

Before the act is done, or the decision is made, regard must be had to whether

the purpose for which it is needed can be as effectively achieved in a way that

is less restrictive of the person’s rights and freedom of action.

Remove ‘Enduring Power of Attorney’; now ‘Lasting Power of Attorney’

Previously: ‘Enduring Power of Attorney’ Could be used at any time Applied only to financial affairs Concerns about safeguards / coercion

New legislation: ‘Lasting Power of Attorney’ Can only be used when registered

Can also apply to health and personal welfare Has more safeguards

Form case study

Outline

The legislative background

Overview of development

The expert review

A twist in the tale

The development of the forms and guidance took many months

Commitment throughout to Plain Language

Many internal discussions

An example of a paragraph from a very early version

The development included extensive public consultation

Consultation included example forms and guidance

Over 100 professional bodies, charities and other

stakeholders invited to take part

Public comment also welcomed

Documents made available in ‘Easy Read’

A section from a consultation document

http://www.dca.gov.uk/consult/powerattorney/lpa_consult_full.pdf

The equivalent section from the Easy Read summary

http://www.dca.gov.uk/consult/powerattorney/lpaeasyread.pdf

Form case study

Outline

The legislative background

Overview of development

The expert review

A twist in the tale

My brief was to review the forms and guidance for usability

Previously reviewed voter registration forms

Simple, one page forms for a straightforward task

Done remotely, using ‘persona-led heuristic inspection’

Recommendations were uncontroversial and were

adopted

These forms were much more complex:

Would the same technique work?

Persona-led inspection step 1: Start with pen-portraits of typical users

• Much form development is concerned with difficult

or unusual cases

• For usability, we want to focus on the most common

cases

• These are usually straighforward with simple

circumstances.

Persona-led inspection step 2: Fill in the form

Try to be the person in the pen-portrait

Easier if there is at least one ‘outsider’ at the meeting

Try to be as honest as possible

Write realistic answers on the form

Go and look up answers – don’t guess

If you possibly can, have some actual filled-in forms

Perfectly OK to have earlier versions or previous

legislation

Persona-led inspection step 3: Think about best practice

Look back over the form as filled in

Minimal guidance before you start

Just-in-time guidance when you need it

Hints about how to get answers

Good balance between the effort needed to fill in the

form and the outcome it achieves

Personal data handled sensitively

Easy to get help on the web, by phone and in person

Now try it for yourself

Write a very brief pen-portrait of someone who might

fill in a form for Lasting Power of Attorney

A first version for our expert review

• Ging-Fei (63) makes a personal welfare LPA appointing his son and

daughter as his joint attorneys.

• He also makes a property and affairs LPA, appointing his son and his

solicitor to act jointly and severally. He has been considering his

future since his wife died a year ago.

• He chooses his son and daughter to be his personal welfare attorneys

because he has told them about his wishes for his health and social

care. He chooses his son and his solicitor to be his property and

affairs attorneys because the solicitor has undertaken legal work with

him before and he trusts him to work closely with his son, who is an

accountant, to make decisions about his financial affairs.

Think about how users come to fill in the form and how they feel about it

How does Ging-Fei find out about LPA?

Is he familiar with the term 'personal welfare LPA'?

When and how does Ging-Fei get the form?

Where does he tackle it? e.g., at his home, at his

lawyer's office, together with his son and daughter?

Does he expect to fill it in all at once or over time?

How long does he think it will take?

Is he comfortable with official forms and documents?

Does he feel nervous about this form?

Now try it for yourself

• Think about being

Ging-Fei.

• Today you want to

look at the LPA for

personal welfare.

Our inspection found good, clear sentences – not always when needed

LPA requires many different ‘actors’

The donor

The attorney(s)

Replacement attorney(s)

Persons to notify

Certificate providers

Witnesses

Explanations were there, but scattered

Before review After review

Before review After review

Form case study

Outline

The legislative background

Overview of development

The expert review

A twist in the tale

The revised version was accepted – with one notable extra change

Before final change

After final change

Question time

Caroline Jarrett

[email protected]

+44 1525 370379

Twitter: @cjforms

Slideshare: cjforms