DiaryKenneth WebbAugust 31, 2025EVL BETA SERVICE, Feedback to GOV UKComment

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN ~ Feedback

DiaryKenneth WebbAugust 31, 2025EVL BETA SERVICE, Feedback to GOV UKComment

DIARY

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

September 2025

DVLA Feedback

August 2025

Dear Sir/Madam,

A year ago, I would breeze through the GOV UK website. A diary reminder that my car tax is due on 1 October would prompt me to quickly visit this site to check the amount of vehicle tax so that I can set aside that cost in the monthly budget for September.

Now, I cannot access any data beyond the vehicle confirmation.

This is not a worthwhile service.

You request my feedback. That is good. GOV UK has been let down by whoever persuaded GOV UK to appoint a team to write this new service. It falls wide of the mark.

I have been a faithful user of GOV UK in all respects since its inception.

If GOV UK has allowed AI (and I am a keen supporter of AI) to write this, then the people driving the machine have let GOV UK down hugely. I am a lawyer (retired) and I know what I am about. I have a large international website. I use AI extensively.

So the impact of this feedback is this:

If I cannot make it work for me, how on earth does GOV UK expect the elderly population who might not have computer skills cope with this?

I respectfully suggest that GOV UK speaks with the human team that has created this service.

In my days as a practising lawyer and in my three commands in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (I am now, of course, 72) I would have put the team on warning. That meant, 'sort the matter out, put yourselves into the mindset of the people you have a duty to serve, and note, please, that you are from this moment, on written notice. Thank you. That is all. Close the door behond you.’

A brisk touching of the rudder.

I have always been immensely proud of what GOV UK has achieved. This morning, I am saddened, because I now finally understand what many people far older than me mean when they say to me “I feel like I’ve been disenfranchised, rendered worthless.”

I ask GOV UK please to overhaul this service. I see what GOV UK is endeavouring to achieve. That is laudable. Thus far, the new service falls wide of the target mark.

But I genuinely know that GOV UK can put things right, with effort and commitment and the ability to think of every generation it is mandated to serve.

Thank you for reading this, I remain

Yours faithfully,

Kenneth Thomas Webb

(Personal Details removed for this entry)