A structured application that can't be submitted half-finished, and a working surface that lets the team see the whole queue at a glance.
On Monday 6 July 2026 I spent 86 minutes with Anthony and Nathan working out what would actually move the needle for Exemptions. We covered the current application journey end to end, the mailbox, the new form Anthony has just built, the document-upload problem, and the standing queue of applicants. Two clear pieces of work came out of it, and this page records both, along with who is doing what next.
The priority we agreed is the road ahead: making every new application arrive complete, so the back-and-forth that eats the team's week stops happening in the first place. Alongside that, the team gets a better way to work the applicants already waiting.
The plan is one system in two parts. The main build is the new application journey, the thing that changes how every future application arrives. It sits ahead of a working surface that lets the team clear the current queue while the form is being specified and built.
A structured application an applicant cannot submit until every required document and answer is in place. This is the headline deliverable: it makes the future process work properly, so the chasing stops being necessary.
A Professional-Standards-style view of the exemptions queue. It lands first, because it can be built from what the team already has while the form's inputs are assembled, and it gives the team immediate relief on the backlog.
The working surface proceeds first in time, but that is a matter of dependencies, not importance. It can begin straight away, whereas the form waits on a few inputs: Anthony's tidied batch, the requirements decision tree, and access to the exemptions mailbox from Julius. The surface delivers relief now; the form is where the lasting change happens.
Anthony's own MS Form, live for about a week, is the starting point. It captures what a good application needs; the build turns that into a proper application that a simple form cannot be, one that blocks an incomplete submission, remembers progress, and feeds a clean timeline of each applicant's history.
The current queue is the reason the working surface earns its place. These are the applicants waiting today.
The engagement runs to Monday 17 August 2026. The shape below gets both pieces operational within it.
A note on the arrangement: this work sits within the terms of the existing engagement, at no additional fee. Coordination and reporting run through Agatha, who holds the most context on how it fits alongside the wider programme.