Case Study: Northumberland County Council streamlines secure citizen payments with Capita One

Northumberland County Council goes unitary using Capita’s payment solutions

Northumberland County Council, a newly created unitary authority serving around 311,000 residents, needed a proven, secure and cost-effective payments platform as it brought together services from multiple former councils. Working with Capita One, the Council wanted a solution with extensive functionality, strong PCI DSS compliance, and support for multiple payment channels across its operations.

Capita One implemented a managed payment solution including Counter Receipting, Paye.net for telephone and face-to-face card payments, Speech Recognition and Internet Payments, Income Management, and later kiosk payments. The result was a highly secure environment with reduced PCI DSS liability, lower card processing costs, and significant staff-time savings from self-service payments; around 10% of Council Tax payments were made online and a further 4% by automated telephone, while Capita One’s managed service removed the need for specialist on-site card processing infrastructure.

Northumberland County Council

Neil Arnold

Infrastructure Manager