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docs: update ethics content #1662

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docs: update ethics content
murrlipp Aug 11, 2025
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docs: ethics updates
murrlipp Aug 19, 2025
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Update assessment.md
helennickols Aug 19, 2025
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Update assessment.md
helennickols Aug 19, 2025
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88 changes: 69 additions & 19 deletions docs/ethics/assessment.md
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layout: layouts/content.njk
subsection: Ethics
title: Preparing for a service assessment
showHelp: true
lede: As part of a service assessment, you’ll be expected to show how you’ve considered ethics. Learn what to do before and during the assessment.
lede: Learn how to prepare for service assessments at different phases of delivery.
eleventyNavigation:
key: Preparing for a service assessment
parent: Ethics
order: 40
excerpt: "As part of your service assessment, you’ll be expected to show how you’ve considered ethics. Learn what to do before and during the assessment."
excerpt: "Learn how to prepare for service assessments at different phases of delivery."
---

## Before your assessment
Your team should consider the ethical impact of your service during each phase of its delivery --- discovery, alpha, beta and live.

Your team should:
As part of your service assessment, you’ll be expected to show how you’ve considered this. This guidance gives information on how to prepare for each phase.

1. Read and consider the [ethical principles](/ethics/principles/).
2. [Do an ethics review](/ethics/review/).
3. Define any actions based on your ethics review.
4. Complete actions, or make a plan to tackle them in the next phase.
If you’re not doing a service assessment, you should still consider our [ethical principles](/ethics/principles/) and explore the ethics of your service.

### If an ethics review is not appropriate
{% accordion "ethics" %}
{% accordionSection "Discovery" %}

If your team has read the ethics guidance and decided an ethics review would not be appropriate, you must show what else you’ve done to consider ethics in your service.
During discovery, you’ll spend time understanding your users. Your team should consider whether anyone could be harmed (physically, mentally, or financially) or excluded by your service.

## During your assessment
### How to prepare for your assessment

As part of the service assessment, you’ll be asked one or both of the following questions:
To explore the ethical impact of your service, you should do one or both of these:

1. How have you made sure that people will not be harmed by your service?
2. What have you done to ensure that your service is ethical?
- hold a [universal barriers workshop](https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVIi81FTI=/)
- hold a session to review our [ethical principles](/ethics/principles)

Depending on the output of your ethics review, your team can say one of the following:
### During your assessment

- there were no actions from the review
- you’ve already addressed any actions
- you’ve not yet addressed the actions, but plan to
You assessor will need to see the output of your preparation.

You’ll also need to use it to answer these questions to show that you’ve understood the social impact of your proposed service:

- who could be accidentally excluded by using your service?
- does your service have vulnerable users and how might you meet their needs?

{% endaccordionSection %}
{% accordionSection "Alpha" %}

During alpha, you’ll start to build prototypes to test your riskiest assumptions.

Your team should consider whether anyone could be harmed (physically, mentally, or financially) as a direct or indirect consequence of your service.

### How to prepare for your assessment

You should do an [ethics review](/ethics/review/). You can then add actions to your backlog or work on them immediately.

You should also review what you did in discovery to check you’ve addressed any issues which were flagged.

### During your assessment

You assessor will need to see your ethics review.

You’ll also be asked what your biggest ethical risks are. Your review will help you answer this.

{% endaccordionSection %}
{% accordionSection "Private beta" %}

### How to prepare for your assessment

You should assess the [ethics review](/ethics/review/) you did in alpha based on the ideas you’ve taken forward into private beta. Think about:

- anything new you may now need to consider
- if anything is less risky now or no longer an ethical issue

If your team did not do an ethics review during alpha, you should do one now. You can then add actions to your backlog or work on them immediately.

### During your assessment

Your assessor will need to see your ethics review.

You’ll also need to show that your service does not harm people or society. Your review will help you with this.

{% endaccordionSection %}
{% accordionSection "Public beta and live" %}

You should assess the [ethics review](/ethics/review/) you did in private beta based on how your service has since evolved. Think about:

- anything new you may now need to consider
- if anything is less risky now or no longer an ethical issue

If your team did not do an ethics review during private beta, you should do one now. You can then add actions to your backlog or work on them immediately.

{% endaccordionSection %}
{% endaccordion %}
23 changes: 7 additions & 16 deletions docs/ethics/design-ethical-services.md
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layout: layouts/content.njk
subsection: Ethics
title: Designing ethical services
showHelp: true
lede: "Learn how you can reduce, mitigate or remove harm by designing and developing responsibly."
lede: "Learn why you should consider ethics when designing and building digital services."
eleventyNavigation:
key: Designing ethical services
parent: Ethics
order: 10
excerpt: "How and why you should consider ethics - and what delivery teams should do."
excerpt: "Learn why you should consider ethics when designing and building digital services."
---

## How to consider ethics

All teams designing and building MoJ digital services should be mindful of how their work may impact people and society.
All teams designing and building MoJ digital services should be mindful of how their design may impact people and society.

As part of your service assessment, you’ll be expected to show how you’ve considered the ethics of your service. Find out more about [preparing for an assessment](/ethics/assessment).
This guidance will help your team:

If your team is not preparing for a service assessment, you should still make sure your service is ethical by:

- [considering the recommended ethical principles](/ethics/principles/)
- [doing an ethics review](/ethics/review/)
- develop services responsibly, so you can reduce, mitigate or remove harm from users
- [prepare for your service assessment](/ethics/assessment/)

## Why you should consider ethics

Expand All @@ -30,10 +27,4 @@ There are many reasons to consider ethics. Some positive impacts include:
- lowering the chances of your service harming people
- reducing the risk of re-traumatisation and making people feel psychologically safe (by using a trauma-aware or trauma-informed approach)
- making sure no groups are discriminated against (by understanding bias within your team)
- making sure people trust your service and that they do not lose confidence in MoJ (by explaining where you’ve used AI and automated decision-making)

## What delivery teams should do

1. [Consider ethical principles](/ethics/principles/) and make ethics a practical part of your design process.
2. [Do an ethics review](/ethics/review/) if appropriate for your service - this will help you understand the impact your service has on people.
3. Find out more about [preparing for a service assessment](/ethics/assessment/).
- making sure people trust your service and that they do not lose confidence in MoJ (for example, by explaining where you’ve used AI and automated decision-making)
33 changes: 18 additions & 15 deletions docs/ethics/principles.md
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layout: layouts/content.njk
subsection: Ethics
title: Ethical principles
showHelp: true
lede: Ethical design principles are a set of ideals to guide how MoJ services are designed and built over time.
eleventyNavigation:
key: Ethical principles
parent: Ethics
order: 20
excerpt: "These 7 ethical principles are a set of ideals to guide how MoJ services are designed and built over time."
backLink: /ethics/assessment/
lede: Learn how to use our ethical principles to prepare for your service assessment.
---
It may not be possible to apply all of these principles, but you can use them as inspiration to improve how you work.
Our ethical design principles are a set of ideals to guide how MoJ services are designed and built over time. 

## Minimise harm
Although it may not be possible to apply all of the principles, use them as inspiration to improve how you work.

## How to use the principles

Your team should run a collaborative session together to review and answer the following questions.

## The principles

### Minimise harm

How might we minimise harm and maximise wellbeing (both physically and mentally)?

## Prioritise people
### Prioritise people

How might we treat people as people, not as numbers or targets for the organisation?

## Include everyone
### Include everyone

How might we provide equal opportunities and resources for all individuals and groups?

## Balance power
### Balance power

How might we try to balance power appropriately:

- between different user groups?
- between users and government?

## Be honest
### Be honest

How might we avoid misleading or deceiving people?

## Respect people’s property
### Respect people’s property

How might we keep people’s property safe and handle it with care? This includes their personal data.

## Take responsibility
### Take responsibility

How might we make sure the whole team is responsible for making the product or service ethical? This includes making sure everyone:

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48 changes: 6 additions & 42 deletions docs/ethics/review.md
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layout: layouts/content.njk
subsection: Ethics
title: Doing an ethics review
showHelp: true
lede: Learn how and when to do an ethics review.
eleventyNavigation:
key: Doing an ethics review
parent: Ethics
order: 30
excerpt: "How and when to do an ethics review."
backLink: /ethics/assessment/
lede: Learn how to do an ethics review to prepare for your service assessment.
---

## Reasons to do an ethics review

Doing an ethics review will help you:
An ethics review will help you:

- design, develop and maintain responsible services
- identify any unintended consequences of your service

## How to do an ethics review

Make a copy of the ethics review template using [Google Docs](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GRHSKxj3_zXubfDkGHQp9Y2_6wpf9_dcB9qCuHQS4xM/edit) or [Miro](https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVPlD7OmE=/?share_link_id=60340973454) (both come with instructions).

You can do the review remotely or in person. There's no time-limit, but for reference it took one team about 2 hours to do their review in person.

The outputs are likely to vary significantly depending on what your service does, who uses it, which phase of delivery you’re at and how information is stored and used.

## When to do an ethics review

Your team should do an ethics review at least once in each phase (discovery, alpha, beta, live) - usually before your service assessment. You can then add actions to your backlog or work on them immediately.

Even if you’re not doing a service assessment, you should still consider the [ethical principles](/ethics/principles/) and do an ethics review.

### Discovery

We would encourage teams to conduct an ethics review at the start of their discovery phase. Consider what you know about your users already.

You may also decide to revisit your ethics review midway through the phase.

This will help determine the ethical elements of the problem you’re trying to solve.

### Alpha

Given a solution is chosen, we would encourage teams to revisit their ethics review and finalise their views based on the decided solution.

Think about:

- anything new you may now need to consider
- if anything is now less risky or no longer an ethical issue

### Further phases
Make a copy of the [ethics review template in Miro](https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVPlD7OmE=/[email protected]&track=true&utm_source=notification&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=add-to-board&utm_content=go-to-board). There are instructions on the board about how to use it.

As you iterate your service, ethical considerations should be taken whenever there’s a large change or addition.
You can do the review remotely or in person. There's no time-limit, but for reference, it took one team about 2 hours to do their review in person.

If there are any doubts, teams are encouraged to revisit the [ethical principles](/ethics/principles/) and their review to make sure they are following best practice.
The outputs you get are likely to vary significantly depending on what your service does, who uses it, which phase of delivery you’re at and how information is stored and used.