Government services to be online-only

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/nov/20/government-services-online-only


Summary:

The government is planning for all their services to be online-only to cut costs. Services such as student loans, driving licences, passports and benefits will have to be applied for online. They think that getting rid of all the paper applications could save billions of pounds. They also believe that the people who do not have internet or are not able to apply online will be able to fill in forms digitally at their local post offices. Student loans will go first, followed by applications to schools, such as school meals and personal applications, such as driving licences. The change will take a couple of years. The online service is also better for consumers and better for government because the service will be available 24/7. At this moment 27% of households have no internet connection and six million people aged over 65 have never used the web. This group is most likely to react negatively on the plans but the post offices will be a place for the people without internet to access government services. But this could also be a threat because a lot of people will handle their services online and would not be coming to the post offices as often as before. So the post offices will see a reduction in their profit and the business model that sustains the offices will disappear.

Opinion:

Technology is developing at a fast rate. In the future we will do the most of our things online. Most of us have email and communicate with each other through internet or with our mobiles. We also do most of our banking activities online. It is only a matter of time before the government replaces the paper applications with online services and there is nothing that will change that development. But I do think that their needs to be a safety net for the people (especially older people) who have no experience with internet or are just starting to figure it out, so that they can get comfortable with the current way of life.