North Yorkshire Council Tax Payment
UX research — improving the online council tax payment experience
UX research — improving the online council tax payment experience
Overview
This research project grew out of repeated difficulties local residents faced when paying council tax through the North Yorkshire Council website. Similar frustrations were widely shared on the Council’s social media channels.
At the time, residents could pay either by Standing Order/Direct Debit or by completing the online payment process manually each month. For those unable to set up a Standing Order, the website experience was widely described as a monthly source of stress and wasted time.
The primary users were North Yorkshire residents seeking a simpler, more reliable way to pay their council tax.
The challenge
The existing online payment flow created recurring problems for residents, including:
No way to undo actions or correct mistakes without restarting the entire process
No clear safeguards against accidental duplicate payments
Frequent crashes that forced users to re-enter details, sometimes multiple times in one session
Vague error messages with no clear next steps
Limited help for technical failures, particularly for deaf or hard-of-hearing residents
Many residents also struggled to set up Standing Orders because payment dates varied each month. The team set out to understand the full extent of the problem and explore whether a smoother alternative could work better.
What we did
We ran an end-to-end research process that included:
Project scoping, secondary research and assumption mapping
A heuristic evaluation of the live payment flow using Nielsen’s usability heuristics
25 in-person pop-up interviews outside Council offices
15 remote interviews via Zoom, recruited through the Council’s social media pages
Affinity mapping and user journey mapping
Concept development from sketches to paper wireframes and a high-fidelity interactive prototype
Prototype testing with 30 residents (20 via social media recruitment and 10 in person)
The proposed concept focused on securely storing user details, reducing repetitive data entry, and providing clearer progress and confirmation throughout payment.
Outcome
The research confirmed that dissatisfaction was widespread and that demand for a better solution was strong.
Key findings included:
100% of interview participants said they would welcome an alternative that stored their details and enabled a quicker payment process
Prototype testing showed the new interface was positively received by all participants
Time on task dropped from 30+ minutes to 5–10 minutes
Residents especially valued not having to re-enter details each month
A follow-up social media question about whether residents wanted an alternative payment method received a 100% positive response
After the findings were shared publicly, the Council reviewed the research and subsequently redesigned the payment pages across the website. The improved experience made paying council tax noticeably less stressful for residents.
What we learned
This project reinforced the value of combining different research methods — heuristic evaluation, street interviews, remote conversations, journey mapping and prototype testing — to build a clear, evidence-based case for change.
It also showed that UX research, when thorough and well communicated, can still create impact. Even without an initial brief from the organisation, a well-documented picture of resident experience was enough to prompt meaningful service improvement.
Practical lessons included the importance of a clear research plan, piloting sessions before full recruitment, and being prepared for the realities of in-person fieldwork.
