- Open administration
Parliament approves law that recognizes citizens' right to error and promotes proactive services
Can you imagine receiving public aid without having to ask for it? Five years ago, at the AOC we began a journey with a very clear idea: to make the relationship between citizens and the Administration easier, it was necessary to move forward with determination towards proactive and personalized services that detect their needs and anticipate their demands. We analyzed popular experiences from the private sector in the e-commerce (Amazon), entertainment (Netflix) or social networks (Instagram), banking (Fintonic), among many others. But, unfortunately, in the public sector —both national and international— there were practically no references to draw inspiration from.
The path is not easy. The regulatory framework for data protection poses major challenges in public management. Although the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is common to the public and private sectors, the Administration is often required to interpret and apply it more strictly. Furthermore, the culture of the Administration is not mature enough to make a paradigm shift towards a relationship model, based on the intensive and intelligent use of data to detect the needs of citizens and anticipate their demands.
This approach can make services less proactive and more difficult to simplify, at a time when protecting personal data is essential, but so is being able to understand what citizens need in order to provide useful, clear and respectful responses to their rights.
Proactive services that are already a reality
Today, however, we can already say that we have pilots and services in production that prove that it is possible. Imagine this:
- A family automatically receives a discount on their property tax or water tax each year, without having to do anything.
- A mother receives a notice with the draft of the school lunch aid and only has to click to confirm it.
- A person with financial difficulties sees in their citizen folder a personalized recommendation of social aid that is of interest to them.
- A city council detects situations of energy poverty and acts to guarantee the supply of energy or water.
This is not science fiction. It is what the AOC, in collaboration with other administrations, is facilitating or promoting with projects such as:
The levels of personalization and proactivity
Personalization and proactivity in public services have different degrees of complexity, which provide different values: they range from sending simple notifications, to preparing draft applications that the person only has to confirm, to almost automatically granting a social benefit without the person having to do any paperwork. The higher the level, the easier life is for citizens, but the technological and management complexity also increases.
Based on the EAPC research work “The personalization of public services: the contribution of artificial intelligence and big data” led by Agustí Cerrillo, a graduation of the levels of personalization that public services can experience can be established:
| Level | Description | Examples |
| 5 | Alerts or communications about relevant grants or services based on interests or activity history | the CIDO of the Barcelona Provincial Council, Les Meves Ajudes of the Barcelona City Council or the social recommendations of El Meu Espai of the AOC |
| 4 | Automatic completion of forms (drafts) or elimination of data input or documents held by the Administration | social aid procedures, selection processes, contracting, etc. that make use of the AOC's interoperability services |
| 3 | Proactive proposal for assistance with pre-filled form for confirmation | Meal allowances from Terrassa, Sant Cugat del Vallès, Mataró, Sant Feliu del Llobregat, the AOC pilot, etc. |
| 2 | Proactive granting of a grant or bonus without application, based on the previous year's application | IBI tax rebates for single-parent or large families. Water tax rebates for living units with more than 4 members. |
| 1 | Fully proactive granting of aid without any application, based on the person's profile and eligibility | Energy poverty reports |
The challenges? Regulations and standardization of criteria
The regulatory framework (GDPR, social assistance laws, etc.) strongly guarantees fundamental rights, but it also makes it difficult to provide personalized and proactive social assistance, because it requires prior and explicit consent for each area or for each action. Furthermore, when the assistance benefits a family or cohabitation unit, it is often necessary to obtain the consent of all its members.
Obtaining this consent is not quick, easy or cheap, especially in the case of families in difficulty, who now have to be contacted through postal notifications that are slow and often do not get a response. This complexity poses a serious problem when it is necessary to act quickly, such as in situations of energy vulnerability or social emergency.
Furthermore, when we want to replicate good experiences of proactive services, we often find a great disparity in the interpretation of criteria and requirements for obtaining social assistance - such as the very definition of "family unit or cohabitation" or the calculation of family income - the result of outdated or unclear regulation.
The technology is already available and does not represent any significant barrier. We need to rethink the legal framework, resolutely promote the digital channel for relationships with families and build a robust consent management system that allows for progress in proactive services, guaranteeing privacy.
In this sense, it is excellent news that the Government is promoting a bill for the provision of proactive services inspired by the works of the Expert committee for the definition of the transformation strategy of the Administration of the Generalitat of Catalonia and the improvement of public services (CETRA) which is expected to be approved before the end of the year.
The future of public services is digital and also proactive and personalized to develop a more efficient, friendlier and fairer Administration. At the AOC, we are already working to make it a reality.
Reference studies:
- EAPC Research Papers (2020). The personalization of public services: the contribution of artificial intelligence and big data. Agustí Cerrillo, Rhita Bousta, Ramon Galindo, Clara Velasco: https://eapc.bibliotecadigital.gencat.cat/bitstream/handle/20.500.14227/1609/2020_contribuci%C3%B3_IA_Cerrillo.pdf
- How Leading Administrations are Using 'Proactive Public-Service Delivery' to Aid Citizens Policy Brief By Grace Milne, Chrysoula Mitta and David Osimo: https://lisboncouncil.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/LISBON_COUNCIL_Help_Where_Its_Most_Needed.pdf