Accelerating delivery: Transforming government grant access through the ‘Find a Grant’ service
Delivering digital products quickly is key to better serving and retaining customers. When we focus on digital transformation with the user experience in mind, we can see significant improvements—up to a 20-30% increase in customer satisfaction and economic gains of 20-50%.
Our recent work with the Cabinet Office exemplifies how accelerated digital delivery can improve user experience. The Find a Grant service enables both organisations and individuals to search for government grants, check their eligibility, and access application details—all in one place.
When the Cabinet Office approached us at AND to help bring this service to life, speed and efficiency were top priorities for the project.
Before we launched the Find a Grant service, applicants had to navigate through various websites and interact with multiple departments just to figure out which funding opportunities were available. This wasn’t only frustrating for users but also burdensome for the Cabinet Office team, who had to manage these requests. They needed a partner who could help solve the issue using technology—by consolidating all the grant opportunities into one central hub.
Rapid development through collaboration and user-centered design
To ensure we built the most efficient service for users, conducting user research was critical. In just eight weeks, our blended team, working alongside the Cabinet Office, engaged with over 60 users to generate a detailed report on current pain points and potential solutions.
The insights we gathered fast-tracked the next stages of development, like maintaining a consistent user interface. Once we validated these ideas through usability testing, we moved quickly into the build phase. Post-launch feedback confirmed a strong increase in user satisfaction, validating our approach.
Our ability to conduct iterative user testing allowed us to gather immediate feedback, make improvements on the fly, and speed up development and deployment. Working as a multidisciplinary, collaborative team meant we were aligned on the project’s goals and shared a common understanding of how to achieve them. Constant communication across all workstreams helped us avoid delays and ensured rapid progress.
Technology-driven speed and efficiency
To deliver quickly, we built the service on the right technology stack. AWS Fargate allowed for automated scaling and integrated smoothly with our CI/CD pipelines, enabling fast, independent deployment of containerised services. This minimised delays and let our development teams focus on code and application development, which sped up our deployment times.
The service also facilitated seamless communication across various distributed applications via private APIs, while providing a public API where required by stakeholders. All front-end components were designed in accordance with GDS accessibility standards, ensuring the user was always front and centre for us and the other teams involved.
Swift impact and user-centred success
The success of the Find a Grant service showcases how rapid digital product delivery can significantly enhance both user experience and operational efficiency. By prioritising collaboration, user-centered design, and using the right technology stack, our teams, together with the Cabinet Office, created a streamlined, centralised platform that has exceeded user expectations.
To date, Find a Grant has reached 230,000 users—30,000 more than projected. It’s made £9.4 billion of funding available, and Cabinet Office administrators have given the platform a satisfaction rating of 4.2 out of 5. The impact of the service is already clear. It demonstrates that organisations that focus on speed and agility in their digital transformation, while keeping the end user in mind, can achieve remarkable results.
Looking ahead, Find a Grant serves as a prime example of how collaboration and rapid, user-focused digital transformation can yield even greater success in the future. It could also act as a blueprint for other public sector organisations looking to achieve similar outcomes.
