Computer says no
"We are experiencing high call volumes at the moment. Your call is important to us."
If there’s a soundtrack to life in broken Britain, this might be it.
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What started as a joke, 'Computer Says No' culture, now feels all too real.
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This isn’t a headline grabbing crisis like NHS waiting lists or the housing crisis. It's by no means as important either, but it is a persistent problem that shapes daily life, testing our patience and, over time, eroding our trust in the institutions designed to serve us.
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It’s the inconvenience of the online form that never submits properly, the chatbot that repeatedly asks you through endless irrelevant questions without offering real help, and the calls where you have to explain your issue again and again.
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The issue isn’t always the final outcome, appointments get booked, bills get paid, problems get resolved. But the process of getting there is what wears people down: the wasted time, the needless obstacles, and the feeling of being stuck in a system that doesn’t seem to work as it should.
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This report is about that process. About the wasted time, the unnecessary friction, and the quiet resignation that has become part of daily interactions with both public and private services.
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Getting this right won't transform health outcomes (although it would make a serious dent) and it certainly won’t make electricity bills cheaper, but it can help address some of those unnecessary annoyances that often jade our views of the services the country relies on most. Most importantly, it's something government can and should get to grips with.
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Public services shouldn’t be judged solely on outcomes but also on how easily people can access them. A government serious about reform doesn’t just talk about efficiency, it delivers systems that value something even more important: people’s time.
“Voters are increasingly fed up with a system that wastes their time. The danger is that this frustration is no longer just background noise, it’s now shaping political behaviour. This isn’t just annoying, it’s political. If ministers don’t fix the systems people deal with every day, they risk losing voters to parties that want to tear the whole system down.”
Our Recommendations
Right now, the reorganisation of local government and NHS England creates a rare opportunity to modernise digital services and tackle inefficiencies that have built up over decades
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Create a Gov.Local open platform
Develop an open-source, centrally supported website platform for local authorities, following the successful GOV.UK model. Councils would have the flexibility to build their own, but where minimum usability and accessibility standards are not met, adoption of the shared platform would be required to ensure a consistent user experience across the country.
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Break vendor lock-in by reforming procurement and boosting competition
Address the lack of flexibility in local government IT systems, particularly in back-end services such as waste management, council tax, and planning. Encourage joint procurement, open contract structures, and supplier diversity to allow councils to adopt more modern, efficient technologies and avoid long-term reliance on a few large vendors.
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Mandate common data standards across public services
Introduce shared data formats and interoperability requirements across councils and the NHS, enabling systems to exchange information effectively. This would reduce duplication for users and create a more competitive software market by making it easier for organisations to switch providers without disrupting services.
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Make the NHS App and NHS.uk the default digital front door for GP services
Establish the NHS App and NHS.uk as the universal points of access for GP bookings, referrals, and prescriptions. Ensure these channels remain consistently open and accessible to patients 24/7, with standardised user experience and design across all practices.
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Expand the Government Digital Wallet to include local and NHS services
Extend the Government Digital Wallet programme to cover local authority services and NHS systems, enabling a single secure sign-in for residents across all parts of the state.
