Shropshire Council’s web services get a three-star rating

Shropshire Council’s web services have received a three-star rating in the recent independent “Better Connected 2013” survey undertaken by Socitm.

The survey, which analysed every council in the UK’s website functionality, looked at how quickly and easily users could complete tasks which research shows are most in demand on a council’s website.

Councils had their site rated between one star for poor websites and four stars for the best-developed sites.  Shropshire Council saw its rating remain the same as last year at three stars (very good).

Lorna Perry, Shropshire Council’s web manager, was thrilled, saying:

“This is welcome news and reflects the hard work put in over the last 12 months by the web team and web editors, especially as this year we have concentrated on consolidation rather than any large scale development.  We have a relatively small web team, and every member of that team can take great credit from this three-star award from Socitm.”

Shropshire Council has maintained its three-star rating, despite the fact that nationally the gap between good and poor websites has widened, indicating the rate of development required to keep up with the top sites is high.  As with people’s shopping habits, the way citizens are interacting with their councils is increasingly shifting online.  As such, it is vitally important that councils maintain and run a well-designed and user-friendly website.

As technology improves, people transfer their habits online and, with the rapid growth in mobile web usage and browsing, expectations of online services raise year-on-year.

Lorna Perry is confident though that, even with increasing expectations, Shropshire Council can improve its web service to its residents, concluding:

“The coming year will see a step change in how we design, deliver and manage our web presence, and I sincerely believe a four-star website is well within our grasp in the future.”