Simplifying Government Forms (DDN2-A41)

Simplifying Government Forms

Government forms are a gateway to public services, used for everything from applying for unemployment benefits to filing taxes or registering a vehicle. They collect critical data, verify eligibility, support accountability, and ensure compliance with regulations across services and programs. But for many people, forms are a source of frustration.

Poorly designed forms don't just create a negative user experience—they waste time, increase errors, and put added strain on both users and government. Even well-designed forms come with a cost: time, attention, and effort from users who may already be facing stress or barriers like limited internet access, a stressful life situation, or language challenges.

And it's not just about usability. The real issue is burden: how much we're asking of people just to access what they're entitled to. Technical glitches and lack of transparency are common complaints, but the underlying friction often comes from the effort required to provide, manage, and submit information.

To improve public services, we need to reduce that burden wherever possible. That means rethinking how forms work—especially as we move from paper to digital. Putting a paper form online isn't enough. Digital forms must be clear, simple, fast, and accessible by design.

Types of government forms

The most common types of government forms are:

• applications for benefits, permits, or funding
• declarations or filings to comply with legal or regulatory requirements
• registrations or enrolments for systems like voter databases or licensing bodies
• requests or appeals for accessing information or seeking reconsideration of decisions

Examples of burden in government forms

Administrative form burden can result from various design flaws that impact both external users—like citizens, applicants, and businesses—and internal processors who review submissions and manage service delivery.

External user burden

• Too long and too many requirements: Many forms ask for more information than necessary upfront, creating extra work, increasing errors, and causing delays—especially when applicants aren't sure which fields are truly required or how to complete them.
• Language is too complex and uses jargon: Legal and bureaucratic terms are often difficult for people to understand.
• Repetitive questions: Applicants often have to enter the same information multiple times across multiple forms or related services.
• Lack of support for applicants: Poor instructions and minimal in-form help functions can leave users struggling to complete forms or find guidance when facing difficulties.
• Accessibility challenges: Many forms aren't designed for assistive technologies or users with limited digital skills, creating barriers to access.

Internal processor burden

• Inefficient workflows: Poorly organized forms or requests for unnecessary information often point to deeper service design issues. These issues often reflect broader process inefficiencies that slow down internal workflows and service delivery. For example, paper forms (even if scanned) that have to be manually inputted into systems.
• Manual reviews: Open-ended questions and incomplete submissions require extra time for review and assessment.
• High error rates: Confusing layouts and questions lead to mistakes and require follow-ups, further delaying service delivery.

Common causes of form burden

• Regulatory and policy requirements: Many burdens stem from outdated or overly rigid regulations that require excessive documentation—often more than is truly necessary. This leads to a "collect everything, just in case" designer mindset that overwhelms users and administrators.
• Poor design and usability: Forms are often built from the inside out and designed by experts for systems, not for the end users. Without input from real users or proper usability testing, the result is confusing language, unclear questions, and awkward layouts.
• Technological constraints: While digital service delivery has advanced, many legacy internal processing systems used in government departments are not connected to user-facing forms. This can result in duplication, errors, and limited opportunities for automation or auto-population of information.
• Siloed data: Many government systems still don't share data effectively across departments or services. Instead of reusing information that has already been collected in a previous application, users are asked for the same details over and over again. This lack of coordination creates a fragmented experience that frustrates users and increases the risk that they will abandon the form before completing it.

Recognizing and addressing form burden early in the design process can make a significant difference. As a starting point, tools like Suffolk University Law School's Legal Innovation and Technology Lab's Rate My PDF can help evaluate the usability and burden of a form. Rate My PDF offers a quick way to assess how user-friendly a form is, helping teams identify areas that may confuse users and reduce unnecessary frictions.

The pitfall of front-loading information

One of the most common—and costly—mistakes in government form design is the tendency to front-load information. This means asking applicants to provide all possible documentation at the very beginning of a process, even when much of it may never be used to deliver the government service or response.

At first glance, this approach seems efficient—for internal teams. By gathering everything up front, government employees hope to reduce the need for follow-up. But for users, it's a different story. The burden of compiling extensive paperwork before even knowing if they qualify can be overwhelming.

Take, for example, a government grant program designed to support small businesses. From the start, every applicant—whether they're a sole proprietor just starting out or an established company—may be asked to submit extensive financial records, business plans, tax returns, and other documentation that reflects the business's current status. This may happen before the system determines whether the applicant meets even the most basic eligibility criteria, such as business size, location, or sector.

For many small business owners, especially those without dedicated administrative support, gathering all this paperwork can be time-consuming and stressful. They may spend hours—or even weeks—gathering documents, only to find out later that they were never eligible to begin with. In many cases, the government already has access to some of this information, like tax returns, which could be used to save applicants time and reduce unnecessary paperwork. Requiring unnecessary documents not only is a poor use of applicants' time, but also creates extra work for internal teams, who must process and store information that ultimately isn't needed.

Another example can be found in professional licensing. Individuals applying for certification in regulated professions are often required to submit academic transcripts, reference letters, criminal record checks, and sometimes even notarized copies of credentials—all before a preliminary assessment of their qualifications is conducted. In some cases, applicants pay fees and wait weeks or months for feedback, only to discover that their training or experience doesn't meet the requirements.

Civic technology specialist Rebecca Woodbury outlines four categories of information that forms ask for:

• Stuff people know off the top of their head (for example, their birthday)
• Things people have access to, but need to find (for example, last year's income)
• Something people need to get from someone else (for example, their ex-partner's income)
• A narrative about something or questions that require people to weigh complex options (for example, describing an incident or deciding if they want a jury trial)

Think about how those types of information can become obstacles for people: slowing down an application process, interrupting their flow of work, or being outright barriers if they don't have access to that information or need to request it from others. Any information required in a form should be truly essential.

These front-loaded processes don't just create frustration—they actively discourage participation, particularly from people with limited access to professional networks, those unfamiliar with bureaucratic systems, or those dealing with major life changes, such as a newcomer to Canada or someone who has recently lost their job. For government agencies, this leads to fewer applicants, lower program uptake, longer processing times, and the unnecessary storage of irrelevant data. According to a 2024 report by the Government of Canada's Parliamentary Budget Officer, billions of dollars in social benefits like the Canada Workers Benefit, GST/HST credit, and Canada Child Benefit go unclaimed each year, largely because eligible individuals don't file their taxes or don't know the benefits exist. Similarly 2020 research from Carleton University shows that 10 to 12% of working-age Canadians, many of them low-income, don't file their taxes and miss out on benefits they qualify for. Filing a tax return remains a significant barrier, particularly for those with limited financial literacy, unstable housing, or language barriers. This complexity contributes to administrative burden and prevents access to essential supports.

Government staff, focused on streamlining their own workflows, may not fully consider the stress and effort required of applicants. As a result, systems are built around internal convenience rather than user experience, creating external friction that ultimately undermines both efficiency and accessibility. A truly effective design should serve both sides, simplifying the process for users while reducing the administrative load for government staff.

Strategies to reduce or eliminate administrative burden through form redesign

Before redesigning a form, it's essential to ask: Is the form even necessary? Reviewing the entire process and the form's role within it can reveal better ways to collect information—especially if the government already has some of the required data.

When a form is truly needed, practical strategies can make it more effective and reduce the burden on both users and staff.

1. Evaluate the need for the form

• Map the end-to-end process to understand where the form fits and what its purpose is.
• Identify if alternative methods could replace or reduce the form's role.
• Check if the government already has data that can be used to minimize what applicants need to provide.

2. Apply user-centred design principles

• Involve end users and stakeholders throughout the redesign process.
• Test the form with users to identify friction points.
• Use plain language and clear, step-by-step instructions.
• Map the user journey to understand when, where, and how users encounter the form, identify pain points, and optimize the timing, delivery method, and format.

3. Simplify and streamline the form

• Eliminate redundant or non-essential fields.
• Combine related forms to reduce the number of separate submissions.
• Use drop-down menus, checkboxes, auto-populated fields, and other structured fields to make answering easier, streamline form completion, and reduce user input errors.
• Limit open-ended questions that require manual review.

4. Improve data collection and management

• Collect information in phases—start with essential information and request additional details only if needed.
• Screen for eligibility early to prevent ineligible applications from moving forward.
• Design data systems to store information in a structured and accessible way, so that staff don't have to go back to individual applicants (or their applications) to gather data for internal reports.

5. Leverage technology

• Invest in digital platforms that are easy for users to navigate.
• Ensure systems are interoperable across departments.
• Automate routine tasks and checks to reduce manual review and speed up processing.

6. Implement regulatory reform and flexibility

• Adopt risk-based approaches that collect only the information needed for decision-making, instead of asking for everything upfront.
• Allow departments to design forms based on user needs, rather than rigidly following legacy processes.
• Build in processes for routine reviews of data collection regulations to ensure they remain relevant, necessary, and user-friendly.

Other common complaints, beyond administrative form burden

While administrative burden is a significant challenge, it's not the only issue users face with government forms:

• Technical difficulties: Unreliable websites or platforms can delete progress or block access.
• Processing delays: Slow review timelines frustrate applicants and delay services.
• Lack of transparency: Applicants often have no idea where their form stands or why it was rejected.
• Inflexibility: Standardized forms sometimes fail to accommodate unusual but valid circumstances.

To learn more, read the Government of Canada's Digital Standards. They form the foundation of the government's shift to becoming more agile, open, and user-focused and will guide teams in designing digital services in a way that best serves Canadians.

Conclusion

Government forms are more than paperwork—they are the public's interface with their institutions. When poorly designed, they can confuse, frustrate, and exclude users, especially during stressful moments when government help is most needed. In contrast, well-designed forms build trust, increase efficiency, and make services more accessible.

Reducing administrative burden isn't just a technical fix—it's an act of public service. When governments collect only what they need, in ways people can understand and manage, they empower citizens and make better use of public resources. For both applicants and public servants, improving form design creates a win-win scenario: clearer submissions, faster processing, better data, and stronger public trust.

Resources

• Website | GC Forms
• Website | Work with CDS on a Digital Form
• Course | Introduction to Human-Centred Design (DDN207)
• Course | The Design Process: Understanding the Problem (DDN237)
• Course | The Design Process: Design Research (DDN244)
• Article | Systems Thinking for Impactful Innovation (DDN2-A48)
• Article | Delivering Effective Public Services in the Digital Age (DDN2-A40)
• Article | Design Thinking for Impactful Solutions (DDN2-A15)
• Article | Difficult forms: how government agencies interact with citizens