Bath and North East Somerset Early Help

We led with an accessibility approach to ensure that people could access the organisation listings without an internet connection. Therefore even when confronted by no Wi-Fi or a lack of mobile data, the app can be accessed, ensuring it is accessible to all.

Furthermore in 2020, the Early Help App was rebuilt to include surveys, plus to host documents that had previously been hosted on the B&NES website. And the rebuild included an audit re. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) with improvements made to user experience too.

Professionals can access a wide range of different categories, such as money, energy costs and affordable food and housing and homelessness. All include signposting information, documents and resources to support in Early Help and Early Intervention.

When the app launched, initial feedback from professionals was that they “valued having all the information about early help services, referrals and signposting in one place – even when out and about with sometimes with limited internet access.

Over the last two years, 2022-2023, B&NES Early Help App has seen increases in engagement and usage. 

• Average session per user, increasing from 1.48 per user in 2022 to 1.56 per user in 2023.
• Page Views – 6.26 page views per session in 2023 vs. 5.91 in 2022.
• The number of new users continues per year, plus there is a focused user base showing that the app has a number of dedicated users, repeatedly returning to the app.

The B&NES Early Help App is available from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

B&NES Council stated, “it has been a valuable tool for us.” and “Statistics show that we still have a good number of new users to the App each month and a recent wide-ranging survey on usage of the App showed that it is considered a useful tool.”