A National Project to offer citizens the option of paying for council services electronically was launched by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's Office (ODPM) on Tuesday.
e-Pay, funded by £1.2m from the ODPM, aims to help councils use e-payment technology to improve service delivery by enabling citizens to make payments how they choose and at times that are convenient to them. It is also aimed at providing efficiency savings by reducing the time and resources spent taking payments manually.
It involves electronic channels such as the Internet, telephones, mobile phones, kiosks and SMS. These can be used for electronic payments of services including council tax, waste disposal, leisure services and planning applications.
Local e-government minister Phil Hope said he is convinced of the potential of e-Pay to improve services and deliver cost savings.
"e-Pay fits well into local government, and if it is rolled out effectively in local authorities it could save £708m over the next five years," he said at the launch. "It helps you to enable priority services and meet your 2005 targets, gives you a racing start and is a win-win situation."
Hope said the project offers local authorities better accessibility and accountability, and could transform services.
"We are aiming to make dealing with local authorities just as simple as going to the cashpoint," he said.
With efficiency savings very much on the agenda in local government, Hope assured delegates that e-Pay would generate "cashable" savings that could be put back in to new services. He also explained how regional centres of excellence have been set up to assist councils in providing an e-payment facility, comparing their position to "after sales service engineers".
Councillor Barry Dodd, representing lead authority on the project for Bristol City Council, described the project as "an opportunity to deliver better customer service through more convenient services at lower cost and greater efficiency".
Talkback
Fine in theory BUT the large scale use of e-payment methods require the following
a)a computer with internet accessibility - not necessarily present in the poorer parts onf the community
b) far more trust in the security of internet transactions, notwithstanding how all say they have secure payment methods yet still multiple stories abound of phishing attacks on peoples accounts
c)a degree of computer literacy.
The net result is yet more unfair bias against the poor unable to afford the equipment and the older generation without the necessary expertease