THE Appeals Service in Northern Ireland (TAS) has engaged specialist software, technology and outsourcing services firm Civica in Belfast to transform its digital services.
The parties have agreed an initial five-year deal which will be worth £3.4 million to Civica, who will provide an automated digital platform to manage intelligent workflow, scheduling, case management and document management for TAS.
It extends Civica's public services presence in the north, where it already works with the likes of the PSNI, linking its systems into those of the Police National Computer (PNC), and a number of other public bodies and commercial organisations.
TAS provides administrative support to tribunals set up to hear appeals against decisions made by the Department for Communities in relation to personal independence payments and child maintenance; HM Revenues and Customs; the NI Housing Executive; and the Rates Collection Agency.
The agency, which has 130 staff in Belfast and Omagh, receives a high volume of enquiries, with 12,000 tribunal session records and 10,000 live appeal records at any one time, and requires a new automated system to support the case management of various appeals.
Civica, which secured the tender following a competitive process, will build a fully automated digital platform which will remove much of the existing manual transactions.
The new system will enhance efficiency in a number of ways. Online document management supports the TAS paperless agenda as all appeals packs will be available online for download, rather than having to be printed and posted.
Civica’s platform will also allow improved data analytics, helping users to connect data across systems, showing an individual’s full appeals history and meeting the service’s increasingly sophisticated reporting requirements.
Mark Owens, managing director at Civica Northern Ireland, said: “We look forward to delivering an improved digital platform for all service users and remain fully committed to transforming the way public services operate via increasing cloud, data and digital innovation.
“This latest partnership showcases our commitment and expertise to work at the heart of Northern Ireland’s public services.”
Civica's Belfast operation is part of the wider Civica Group (www.civica.com), which supplies more than 3,000 major customers in 10 countries.
