Making the Journey for Child and Spousal Support More Human
Leading the complete redesign of a minimum viable service for citizens seeking child and spousal support.
Background: Modernizing a Critical Support Service
Outdated government portals can unintentionally create hurdles for people seeking aid, especially those relying on child or spousal support. As more public services move online, citizens benefit from tools that are clearer, easier to navigate and designed with their real-world needs in mind — and staff need systems that support, rather than limit, their ability to help.
Outwitly was engaged over 10 months to improve the customer experience of an online government service for citizens seeking child or spousal support, provide recommendations for its reinvention, and lead its complete redesign. Our task was to reduce manual processes with automated/efficient systems, reduce call volume, improve case load, and improve user experience by providing meaningful case information to citizens in an easy-to-access and modern online portal.
I showed the app Outwitly created to our Deputy Minister… She was thrilled with how nice it looked and the simple layout of information. She is excited for how useful the clients will find the new service.
Executive Director, Provincial Government Department
Challenge: An Outdated Portal Creating Service Bottlenecks
The original online portal, which serves over 30,000 citizens, was outdated, and its clunkiness made it difficult for some citizens to access the information they needed about their cases, often leading them to contact staff for clarification.
Over time, this created a steady demand for support, which took up more and more of case workers’ time, limiting their bandwidth. These delays directly impacted the progress and outcomes of citizens’ cases.
Key issues included:
An outdated digital interface. The design and structure made everyday tasks less intuitive, especially for citizens navigating stressful circumstances.
Limited visibility into case details. Citizens often had trouble finding essential information about their own cases, creating uncertainty, unease and additional follow-up.
High volume of repeat calls. Staff spent significant time addressing the same questions, reducing their capacity for deeper case work.
Strained service effectiveness. As staff capacity was stretched, delays in payments and case movement became more common.
Approach: Designing Around Real Citizen and Staff Needs
Outwitly grounded its work in a deep understanding of both citizen and staff experiences, ensuring the redesigned service addressed real needs and relieved systemic pressure.
This involved:
Thorough discovery & validation research with users. Interviews, observations and usability tests (35+ interviews, 3 days of observation, 16 test sessions) helped Outwitly uncover the key emotional and practical challenges citizens and staff faced, shaping the priorities for the redesign.
Clear insight into the service ecosystem. Artefacts like journey maps, an ecosystem map, two insights reports and a 5-Step Action Plan highlighted where confusion, delays and staff bottlenecks occurred, giving the organization a shared view of what needed to change.
Iterative, evidence-based design. Outwitly progressed from low-fidelity wireframes to high-fidelity designs and clickable prototypes, testing each stage with real clients to ensure the new experience was intuitive, accessible and aligned with real-world behaviours.
Smooth implementation through collaboration. Close work with the technical team supported accurate implementation, accessibility compliance and overall digital transformation efforts.
Results: A Transformed, Supportive Experience for Citizens and Staff
The redesigned portal had a quick and meaningful impact on both citizens and staff. With clearer access to their case information, citizens felt more informed and in control, while staff were able to shift their attention to the cases that genuinely required their expertise.
The improved experience has also contributed to a more modern and dependable public service. Highlights included:
Growing portal adoption. More than 2,500 citizens had onboarded already when this study was written, and usage continues to increase as more people transition to the new system.
Mobile-first usage. Following the launch, about 75% of users started accessing the service on their mobile device, making it easy and convenient for citizens to view and manage their personal case information.
Reduced call volumes. With clearer information available online, staff received fewer repeat calls, allowing them to focus on complex and urgent cases.
Dramatically improved staff efficiency. Case workers reported having much more capacity and an enhanced ability to improve service quality and response rates for citizen cases.
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