COUNCIL PROVIDES EASY WAY TO PAY BILLS LOCALLY

12.00.00am GMT Tue 9th Feb 2010

York residents needing to pay for Council services will be able to pay their bills more locally from Friday, thanks to a new payment system being introduced by City of York Council.

From 12th February residents can pay Council bills at local Post Offices and small retailers.

The new scheme is part of the More for York programme, which aims to deliver more for local residents by making the Council more efficient.

The changes mean 43 local Post Offices and 68 small retailers could handle up to 194,000 cash payments a year on behalf of the Council.

The use of Post Offices and small businesses to handle cash payments will allow the Banking Hall at the City Finance Centre in Library Square to be converted to an integrated face to face customer reception.

This means customers would only have to visit one reception point to access a whole range of Council services, rather than having to visit the many different Council buildings across the city.

The integrated customer reception point will prepare staff and customers for the move to the Council's new HQ building in 2012, where all customer services will be located together.

Liberal Democrat Executive Member for Corporate Services, Councillor Richard Moore said the new system would provide greater flexibility for customers as well as saving the Council money.

He said, "A survey of customers using the Banking Hall showed that many people were travelling into the city centre just to pay their bills. By allowing people to pay their bills at local shops and Post Offices we are giving people the option to make payments more locally, saving them time and the cost of travel."

"The changes will also help to improve sustainability by reducing journeys into the city centre and helping to cut traffic and carbon emissions."

"The changes will also save the Council £125,000 a year thanks to the reduced cost of processing payments."

The introduction of the new system has been made possible thanks to a recent reduction in transaction fees by the Post Office which make the service more affordable.

Councillor Moore said, "Recently the Post Office have cut their transaction fees to a level which make it much more viable for the Council to use Post Offices as payment points."

"We have looked at the idea in the past but until now charges have been too high. The recent changes mean we can make more locations available to pay Council bills, while at the same time reducing costs."

Councillor Moore, who has campaigned to keep local Post Offices open, including helping to secure the reopening of the Post Office on Eastholme Drive, Rawcliffe, said he was pleased that the initiative would benefit local Post Offices.

He said, "I have fought hard to for local Post Offices in the past and I am delighted that we are able to help these businesses by enabling them to take payments on behalf of the Council."

"Post Offices and local shops are often at the centre of their communities, it is important that we help to sustain them by giving them business where we can."