Customer story: Gambling Commission, UK

A change in methods

The Gambling Commission oversees and licenses all gambling operations in the UK.

They regulate a huge amount of premises and are committed to doing so in a way that is fair, objective and accountable.

Part of operating in this way involves regular consultations with stakeholders on their decision-making.

They had a consultation system in place, but a survey with their stakeholders in 2017 revealed that people found their consultations to be lacking in consistency in terms of style, content and quality. They also found them to be labour-intensive. As a result of this survey, the Gambling Commission ran a review of its consultation process in order to add value to respondents.

Citizen Space was the clear choice.

It’s designed with consistency in mind, meaning that all consultations have the same look, feel and format. Organisations have full control over the content that goes in a survey, but the process for the respondent remains familiar. All consultations - open, closed, and forthcoming - are conveniently grouped in one place, so respondents can share their views, see what’s coming up, and read feedback on a closed consultation all from the same place.

It also makes the process of contributing easier for respondents by giving them the option of saving their progress and returning to it later - so for longer surveys, they can break it up in a way that suits their personal schedules.

Keeping it accountable

Citizen Space has been configured to provide organisations with a range of tools that help keep their processes open and accountable. For example, when posting feedback on a closed consultation, changes in colour and layout make it clear the consultation is no longer active while still allowing all initial information on its overview page. ‘We Asked, You Said, We Did’ is a feature that makes it easy to find concise summarised feedback on what was consulted upon, how people responded, and what actions were made on the back of their contributions.

Choosing Citizen Space meant that the Gambling Commission picked the best tool for their stakeholders, for their consultation team, and for their commitment to fairness and honesty in their work.