Supporting service when your life partner dies

Three government ministries - a common goal 

The Pensions Agency (Pensionsmyndigheten), Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) and Swedish Social Insurance Agency (Försäkringskassan) should give help and information to people who have lost a loved one. To do this in the best way for those mourning we realised that cooperation between the authorities was important.

The authorities needed to work out strategies for how to better be able to provide joint support to the surviving relatives and work together with them. Finding new approaches and methodologies to work in a more user-centred fashion was an important part of the project, for which Antrop was responsible.

To begin looking at a collaboration between the authorities, they first needed help with getting a much deeper understanding of the target audience and with being able to identify the type of support the surviving members of the family need.

Accompanying people through grief

The project began and a collaboration was initiated with Antrop to get help create better services and work toward more customer-centricity.

Through extensive survey of people's thoughts, needs and grief, Antrop has, during the project, helped the authorities to better understand the people who end up in this situation. By mapping and visualising people’s journey through the first period alone without their relatives, Antrop has developed target group descriptions to help authorities get a clearer picture of which trials the various target groups are facing in this situation and what their different needs are.

Antrop and the authorities then had customer journeys and audience studies as the basis for the generation of ideas on a range of new services that would benefit citizens with practicalities and information when a partner dies. Antrop was also responsible for developing a common model for service development that will facilitate cooperation and focus.

Comprehensive and better support

Antrop’s efforts have resulted in a clear and comprehensive plan of action for how the new services offered by the authorities can be realised.

The plan of action includes a study of the feasibility of introducing days of mourning and a new joint website to be developed for those left behind. In the action plan, Antrop has also provided authorities with new, customer-centric approaches and methods to improve support through customer service within the various authorities.

Through the action plan’s different components the authorities will in the future be able to provide better support for those who lose a loved one.