Case study

Empowering people, driving innovation and providing extraordinary experiences for the people of Westminster.

Westminster City Council is the local authority representing the City of Westminster. Carrying out several key functions such as setting council tax, managing planning permissions, and delivering core public services to its people, the council aims to ensure every resident has a positive experience living in this bustling central London borough.

Currently on a path of digital transformation, the council seeks to establish itself as a truly Smart City, looking to digitise how residents access core public services such as libraries and cultural activities via their City Save initiatives. To help them meet these goals, Netcompany were engaged to begin establishing how residents could access these services once digitised.

It was clear that making these services available via a mobile application was the best route forward, so Netcompany worked with the council to deliver the MyWestminster Digital card. Sitting within the pre-existing MyWestminster account, the downloadable smart phone digital card enables residents to enjoy the simplicity and convenience of digital, all in one easily accessible place.

Instead of signing up for a physical access card, waiting for it to be printed and delivered, residents now simply sign into their account on their smartphone, add their digital membership card to their Apple Wallet or Google Pay, and gain immediate access to library services and city save discount schemes, providing the platform and scalability for more services to be added.

This revolutionary step forward not only cuts out the need to carry separate physical cards for dozens of public services, but it also cuts out the need for single-use plastic access cards to be printed and shipped to residents, supporting Westminster’s ambition to be carbon-free by 2040, as part of their Greener City initiative.

Results

• Ensuring simpler and more convenient access to public services and cultural activities, all with one single card
  • Eradicating wait times associated with the printing and shipping of physical cards
• Cutting out the need to carry a physical card, preventing loss or theft concerns
• Increasing uptake of the card and council-provided services due to the simplicity and convenience of digital
• Putting the needs and interests of the Westminster residents at the heart of how services are designed
  • Residents can now easily submit feedback about the card online, including which services they would like to see added in the future and general ideas for improvement
  • Workshops are also offered to those residents who are less confident using smartphones, eliminating a commonly perceived skills gap to ensure inclusivity across the board
• Continuing to support Westminster for the next 12 months in making aesthetic improvements to the application and the user experience