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Taking simple steps to modify communication and behaviour is reaping big savings for the taxpayer.

A government initiative to let psychologists work alongside civil servants to apply behavioural insights to letters, forms and documents could save hundreds of millions of pounds and thousands of lives over the next few years.

A study by the government’s behavioural insights team (BIT) reports a number of new approaches that are improving health and boosting tax payments.

The team’s work is also lessening fraud and errors in public departments.

Now, the successes have spurred the government to introducing behavioural cues across several departments – and some diversity managers are considering the strategy to ease concerns over discrimination.

Oliver Letwin, Minister for Government Policy, said: “Changing people’s behaviour doesn’t always require new legislation and regulations – some of the most effective approaches tend to involve only small tweaks to Government processes, such as letters or forms.

“Behavioural insights will not replace existing forms of policy making, but this report shows there is overwhelming evidence that they can save taxpayers’ money and people’s lives.”

BIT was set up in July 2010 to find innovative and cost-effective ways to change people’s behaviour. It is the first of its kind in the world.

Some examples of how behavioural insights have worked include:

• Empowerment – giving consumers access to personal data held by firms in electronic form. This is likely to revolutionise relationships between consumers and firms.

• Environment – Energy Performance Certificates have been redesigned. These will help 1.4 ,million households a year from 2012 understand how efficient their home is relative to others, and how they can best act to save money and cut carbon emissions.

• Tax –  a self-assessment debt campaign using behavioural insights contributed to increased tax being paid by £350 million in six weeks. This included changing letters to explain that most people in the taxpayer’s neighbourhood had already paid their taxes, a trial of which boosted repayment rates by around 15%.

 

 

 

This article is filed under : , Diversity, Legal, Leadership, Minorities, Equality Act 2010, equality strands, Protected charactersitcs, Role models

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