AbstmctWe present an overview of the application of the convergent close-coupling (CCC) method to electron scattering on light atoms and ions. Particular emphasis is given to those areas where other theories have difficulty, e.g. total ionisation cross sections and the associated spin asymmetries. We begin with the simplest application to the Temkin-Poet model problem of electron-hydrogen scattering, which we use to validate the CCC approach. Subsequently, results are given for electron impact ionisation of various initial states of the targets H(ls, 2s), He(1 1 S,2 3 ,lS), He+(1s), Li(2s), 05+(2s) and Na(3s).