Decision details

The report relates to the proposed transfer of Bill Payment services from the current provider, Co-operative Bank, to a new provider in order to ensure continuity of bill payment services for the users of council services.

Bill payment collection services allow for monies to be collected on the basis of barcoded bills and magnetic swipecards, issued by the Council to its customers in relation to the services it provides.

The collection service would utilise both Post Office and PayPoint agents and interface with existing systems used to allocate monies collected to the relevant fund/service.

(i) Delegate authority to Director of Finance & Commercial Services in consultation with the Director of Legal and Governance to terminate the Bill Payment Services contract with Co-operative Bank, prior to the full term of the contract;

(ii) delegate authority to Director of Finance & Commercial Services in consultation with the Director of Legal and Governance to vary the existing OSP Capita Partnership Agreement by adding the services of Bill Payment Selection, in accordance with the terms of the Agreement; and

(iii) delegate authority to Director of Finance & Commercial Services in consultation with the Director of Legal and Governance to take all other necessary steps not covered by existing delegations to achieve the outcomes outlined in the report.

Both PayPoint and Capita Software Services quoted for bill payment services – with Capita Software Services providing a quote with greater economic benefit through cheaper transactional costs overall and the avoidance of cost relating to integration with existing systems and additional savings on the maintenance costs. On this basis, the recommendation is to go with Capita Software Services.

Following approval of the proposal, we would look to place an order with Capita via the Capita Partnership arrangement. The intention being to arrange for the early termination of the existing arrangement with Co-op Bank and put in place the arrangement with Capita Software Services with effect from Autumn 2017.

The early termination of Co-op contract would not incur any additional costs. There would be a short window where transactional costs for both services would be incurred but this is only on the items already within the Coop based system prior to the switch.  We would not be paying for things twice.

Contact was made with both the Post Office and PayPoint to see if they would deal with us directly. We also contacted Capita Software Solutions, who are a reseller of this service.

Post Office confirmed do not deal directly with customers preferring to deal via resellers so the two key contenders are PayPoint and Capital Software Services.