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Policy in Practice

Apply Once

An online application form tailored to your service. Integrate benefits and grants search with income and identity verification to provide a ‘one-click’ assessment for national benefits, social tariffs and discretionary schemes. This allows you to target schemes appropriately, view applications holistically and evidence the impact of discretionary spending.

Features

  • Application processing for your council tax and discretionary support schemes
  • Identity and income verification via Open Banking and Document ID
  • Integrated income maximisation and grant search via a single pathway
  • SSO integration into CRM platforms and related services
  • Reporting built-in to ensure support gets to those who need
  • Available as a self-serve or advisor-assisted web-based application form
  • Your support schemes integrated into GOV.UK and partner network
  • One-click applications and assessments to access billions in unclaimed support
  • Built-in SFS compliant I&E and budgeting calculator
  • SSO, integration and training all included in the cost

Benefits

  • Tailor assessments to your support schemes to ensure consistency
  • Improve customer experience by collecting evidence once
  • Reduce operational costs with one application for all schemes
  • Identify £23bn of unclaimed support across national and local schemes
  • See application history across multiple schemes to make holistic decisions
  • See how money is spent and who has been supported
  • Increase completion rate and reduce dropoff rates from sign-posting
  • Provide consistent support to customers, no matter which entry point
  • Include income maximisation and grant search in a single pathway
  • Improve efficiency by integrating with your current systems/processes

Pricing

£239 to £5,000 a unit a year

Service documents

Request an accessible format
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at hello@policyinpractice.co.uk. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 14

Service ID

8 4 4 4 6 0 8 8 2 7 2 2 8 4 0

Contact

Policy in Practice Deven Ghelani
Telephone: 0330 088 9242
Email: hello@policyinpractice.co.uk

Service scope

Software add-on or extension
No
Cloud deployment model
Private cloud
Service constraints
Tested on IE8 and above.
System requirements
  • Browser
  • Internet access

User support

Email or online ticketing support
Email or online ticketing
Support response times
Response times are typically within the hour
User can manage status and priority of support tickets
No
Phone support
Yes
Phone support availability
9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
Web chat support
Web chat
Web chat support availability
9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
Web chat support accessibility standard
None or don’t know
How the web chat support is accessible
Web chat is a typed portal. Any requests on improved accessibility can be discussed with the company
Web chat accessibility testing
Testing has been done by the web chat software provider. Any further conversations on accessibility would be welcomed by Policy in Practice
Onsite support
Yes, at extra cost
Support levels
Service includes a half day of on-site training.
Additional time can be purchased.
Support available to third parties
Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

Getting started
Onsite training, online training, or user documentation
Service documentation
Yes
Documentation formats
  • HTML
  • ODF
  • PDF
End-of-contract data extraction
Users are sent their data as part of the service. Their data is deleted when the contract ends as described in the data sharing agreement.
End-of-contract process
The service is delivered and there are no additional costs.

The buyer need only provide 45 days written notice if provided as an ongoing service.

Using the service

Web browser interface
Yes
Supported browsers
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Firefox
  • Chrome
  • Safari
  • Opera
Application to install
No
Designed for use on mobile devices
Yes
Differences between the mobile and desktop service
Responsive design
Service interface
No
User support accessibility
WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
API
Yes
What users can and can't do using the API
We provide a webhook to send case data to customers' CRM or other services. We provide an API that allows benefit calculations to be run as a service.
API documentation
Yes
API documentation formats
PDF
API sandbox or test environment
Yes
Customisation available
Yes
Description of customisation
The logo, colours, labels and ordering of questions on the form. We can customise the data fields returned in the webhook.

Scaling

Independence of resources
Cloud based service automatically scaled up, guaranteed uptime and delivery timescales provided at the outset.

Analytics

Service usage metrics
Yes
Metrics types
Comprehensive MI including overall usage, number of users accessed, services accessed (among others).
Reporting types
  • API access
  • Real-time dashboards
  • Regular reports
  • Reports on request

Resellers

Supplier type
Not a reseller

Staff security

Staff security clearance
Other security clearance
Government security clearance
None

Asset protection

Knowledge of data storage and processing locations
Yes
Data storage and processing locations
United Kingdom
User control over data storage and processing locations
No
Datacentre security standards
Complies with a recognised standard (for example CSA CCM version 3.0)
Penetration testing frequency
At least once a year
Penetration testing approach
‘IT Health Check’ performed by a Tigerscheme qualified provider or a CREST-approved service provider
Protecting data at rest
  • Physical access control, complying with CSA CCM v3.0
  • Physical access control, complying with SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
  • Encryption of all physical media
  • Scale, obfuscating techniques, or data storage sharding
Data sanitisation process
Yes
Data sanitisation type
Deleted data can’t be directly accessed
Equipment disposal approach
Complying with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v.30, CAS (Sanitisation) or ISO/IEC 27001

Data importing and exporting

Data export approach
Sent securely via file sharing site as an excel file.
Data export formats
  • CSV
  • Other
Other data export formats
Excel
Data import formats
CSV

Data-in-transit protection

Data protection between buyer and supplier networks
TLS (version 1.2 or above)
Data protection within supplier network
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway

Availability and resilience

Guaranteed availability
Specified in Clause 8 of our terms and conditions:
http://policyinpractice.co.uk/outcome-based-software/terms-and-conditions/
Approach to resilience
Available on request.
Outage reporting
Email alerts.

Identity and authentication

User authentication needed
Yes
User authentication
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • Username or password
Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels
Currently use username and password authentication and are looking to move to domain restriction and federated identity.
Access restriction testing frequency
At least every 6 months
Management access authentication
Username or password

Audit information for users

Access to user activity audit information
Users have access to real-time audit information
How long user audit data is stored for
At least 12 months
Access to supplier activity audit information
You control when users can access audit information
How long supplier audit data is stored for
At least 12 months
How long system logs are stored for
At least 12 months

Standards and certifications

ISO/IEC 27001 certification
Yes
Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001
QMS
ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date
28/07/2021
What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover
N/a
ISO 28000:2007 certification
No
CSA STAR certification
No
PCI certification
No
Cyber essentials
Yes
Cyber essentials plus
Yes
Other security certifications
No

Security governance

Named board-level person responsible for service security
Yes
Security governance certified
No
Security governance approach
We follow best practice procedures, these are regularly updated by our CTO and head of operations for what is a constantly evolving service.
Information security policies and processes
Document and available upon request as PDF / word document.

Operational security

Configuration and change management standard
Supplier-defined controls
Configuration and change management approach
Processes are regularly updated by our CTO and head of operations, with external support/input on a regular basis. We operate industry-standard continuous integration and deployment approaches aligned to the Accelerate/State of DevOps research and recommendations. We use infrastructure as code managed in source control. At the networking infrastructure level, we rely on AWS for change management processes.
Vulnerability management type
Supplier-defined controls
Vulnerability management approach
Processes are regularly updated by our CTO and head of operations, with external support / input on a regular basis. We make use of github dependabot alerts. Regular automated deployments ensures updates and security patches are incorporated as a matter of course. We actively develop our software and ensure that vulnerabilities are patched via the dependency management system. At the networking infrastructure level, we rely on AWS for security patching.
Protective monitoring type
Supplier-defined controls
Protective monitoring approach
Processes are updated by our CTO and Head of operations with external input on a regular (at least annual) basis. At the networking infrastructure level, we rely on AWS for protective monitoring processes. We additionally employ a SaaS monitoring solution at the application level.
Incident management type
Supplier-defined controls
Incident management approach
Processes are updated by our CTO and Head of operations with external input on a regular (at least annual) basis. At the networking infrastructure level, we rely on AWS for incident management processes. We have a documented internal management and incident response process.

Secure development

Approach to secure software development best practice
Supplier-defined process

Public sector networks

Connection to public sector networks
No

Social Value

Social Value

Social Value

  • Fighting climate change
  • Covid-19 recovery
  • Tackling economic inequality
  • Equal opportunity
  • Wellbeing

Fighting climate change

We aim to achieve carbon neutrality by greening business processes and offsetting more carbon emissions than we emit.

As a small company our tCO2e is relatively low already but we still aim to be a carbon-neutral company by 2030

Covid-19 recovery

Apply Once can directly support people and communities to manage and recover from the impacts of COVID-19, including those worst affected or who are/were shielding by identifying unclaimed benefits and support that a resident may be eligible for.

In some organisations, new ways of working are required post-COVID-19. Apply Once delivers an innovative and streamlined new way of working for local authorities and advice organisations to provide a simple and consistent approach to supporting vulnerable residents.

The calculator can improve the health and wellbeing of residents by improving their financial strength and providing them with support that they did not know was available to them. Improving their health and wellbeing can often lower the demand on health and care services.

Tackling economic inequality

The delivery of Apply Once can assist residents into employment by showing them how they would be better off in work than out of work.

Apply Once is a scalable and future-proofed method that modernises delivery and increases productivity with a higher quality of service.

Directly tackles economic recovery, providing support to vulnerable residents by ensuring they are claiming all benefits and support that they are eligible for.

Equal opportunity

Apply Once helps people, including those from disadvantaged or minority groups, to move into employment or into higher paid roles by showing how a person can be better off in work than out of work.

Wellbeing

Apply Once identifies benefits and support that a person is eligible for, this in turn can improve their financial strength. Improved financial strength can often result in improved mental health.

Pricing

Price
£239 to £5,000 a unit a year
Discount for educational organisations
No
Free trial available
No

Service documents

Request an accessible format
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at hello@policyinpractice.co.uk. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.