Design

Our design was informed by best practices. The first iteration was based on the assumption that users need to:

• Easily navigate the online tool, focusing on one question at a time.
• Choose from a list of relatable situations written in plain language.
• Access a list of benefits potentially available to them, as well as information about the amount of financial support that might be available through each benefit.
• Link directly to application information or forms.

The iteration also included a feedback tool to gain insight on service and policy gaps.

We then further iterated based on research insights, resulting in numerous content and design changes. Highlights from these changes include:

• The design now displays the Goods and Services Tax (GST) credit option, tells people how to check whether they receive that credit, and provides access to further information on the GST.
• The tool uses the word “income” instead of “work” (e.g. “lose income”) because research participants indicated that the date they lost work often differed from the date they lost income.
• We emphasized that the benefit finder allows people to apply for CERB as indicated in media reports. To facilitate this, we instructed people who were eligible for EI and CERB to “Apply for CERB”, instead of “Apply for EI and CERB”.
• The design at the top of the results page lists the number of benefits available. In previous iterations, research indicated that people only looked at the first option and did not notice further options below.
• The term “student debt” was ambiguous, so the question was changed to “Do you have student loans you owe the government?” instead of “Do you have student debt?”
• Text was added to the introductory and results pages to clarify that the tool does not guarantee eligibility, but rather provides a list of possible benefits for which people can apply.
• We added ‘None of the above’ as an interim option so that people receiving disability benefits could answer the other questions and get to a results page.
• The “Canadians abroad” content on the start page was moved to a less visible place on the page, as in earlier iterations some people thought the benefit finder was for Canadians abroad. This link was eventually removed from the homepage.
• Content was changed and added to help self-employed people navigate the service.
• We changed the results page so that in addition to learning which benefits they may be eligible for, users also learn which benefits they are unlikely to be entitled to receive. This gives people a clear understanding of the benefit landscape, and lets them know which benefits are currently integrated in the tool.

Accessibility reviews

Two accessibility reviews were conducted for this product: one by an accessibility expert at CDS and another by the Innovation, Information and Technology and Citizen Service Branch at ESDC. Some accessibility issues addressed either through review or through design iteration, include:

• Adding a distinct heading to each page to help screen readers quickly navigate between pages.
• Ensuring every link opens in a new tab.
• Adding a back button to allow people to easily return to previous questions.
• Preventing decorative icons from being read by screen readers.
• Ensuring clear and concise error messages whenever a user attempts to navigate to another page without selecting an option.
• Changing province selection from radio buttons to an autocomplete/dropdown hybrid following the GOV UK autocomplete design.
• Re-designing the benefit headers to colour-code and to distinguish between benefits available to the individual user, other help, and benefits not available to that user. The list of benefits not available was collapsed into an accordion. This structure facilitates accessibility of the information, while simultaneously reducing cognitive load.