Around one in four in Denmark 'challenged' by country’s digitised services
Digitalisation of public services presents almost a quarter of the Danish population with practical difficulties, according to a think tank study.
The Justitia think tank, which is focused on legal issues, states in a new report that “many residents” of Denmark were subjected to “conditional legal security” (Danish: vilkårlig retssikkerhed, ed.) as a result of a high level of digitised public services.
“This could be members of the public who are socially underprivileged or elderly, people with disabilities, people with minority ethnic backgrounds or groups without further education,” Justitia deputy director and author of the report Birgitte Arent Eiriksson said in a press statement.
“Their lack of digital skills can mean that members of the public who were previously well-functioning are reduced to underprivileged people in the meeting with the public sector, or that a pre-existing lack of privilege is exacerbated,” she said.
That could cause “further distortion of society,” the think tank concludes.
Problems using digital platforms can mean that individuals are unable to access public help and support that they are entitled to and would benefit from.
Others may be reliant on help from friends and family to be able to use digital services.
Large parts of Danish public services, including benefits applications, tax registration, registration of addresses, marriages, pensions, applications for child care and residence permits are all primarily conducted online.
READ ALSO: What is Denmark’s new Digital Post secure email system?
In recommendations made in the report, Justitia called for parliament to ratify a dispensation scheme or to make digital self-service platforms optional rather than mandatory.
The think tank also wants parliament to have more control of digitalisation through further-reaching political agreements and bills.
Trade union 3F told newspaper Politiken that “very many” of its 261,000 members need help with digital services or “have already lost benefits or rights as a consequence”.
“Digitisation of the public sector is a good solution for very may people. But not for everyone,” 3F deputy chairman Tina Christensen told Politiken.
The interior minister, Birgitte Vind, told the newspaper that digitisation had “perhaps gone too far for a while”.
“And I know that the government is very engaged on this. It’s not up for discussion that we should not put some people in a worse position because they don’t know how to be digital,” Vind told Politiken.
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The Justitia think tank, which is focused on legal issues, states in a new report that “many residents” of Denmark were subjected to “conditional legal security” (Danish: vilkårlig retssikkerhed, ed.) as a result of a high level of digitised public services.
“This could be members of the public who are socially underprivileged or elderly, people with disabilities, people with minority ethnic backgrounds or groups without further education,” Justitia deputy director and author of the report Birgitte Arent Eiriksson said in a press statement.
“Their lack of digital skills can mean that members of the public who were previously well-functioning are reduced to underprivileged people in the meeting with the public sector, or that a pre-existing lack of privilege is exacerbated,” she said.
That could cause “further distortion of society,” the think tank concludes.
Problems using digital platforms can mean that individuals are unable to access public help and support that they are entitled to and would benefit from.
Others may be reliant on help from friends and family to be able to use digital services.
Large parts of Danish public services, including benefits applications, tax registration, registration of addresses, marriages, pensions, applications for child care and residence permits are all primarily conducted online.
READ ALSO: What is Denmark’s new Digital Post secure email system?
In recommendations made in the report, Justitia called for parliament to ratify a dispensation scheme or to make digital self-service platforms optional rather than mandatory.
The think tank also wants parliament to have more control of digitalisation through further-reaching political agreements and bills.
Trade union 3F told newspaper Politiken that “very many” of its 261,000 members need help with digital services or “have already lost benefits or rights as a consequence”.
“Digitisation of the public sector is a good solution for very may people. But not for everyone,” 3F deputy chairman Tina Christensen told Politiken.
The interior minister, Birgitte Vind, told the newspaper that digitisation had “perhaps gone too far for a while”.
“And I know that the government is very engaged on this. It’s not up for discussion that we should not put some people in a worse position because they don’t know how to be digital,” Vind told Politiken.
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