Coventry City Council has become the latest council to introduce PayPoint’s Open Banking technology to disburse funds to households in the area.
The new partnership will see Coventry City Council implement PayPoint’s ‘OpenPay’ digital payment service, with the aim to improve the efficiency and accessibility of government fund disbursements to residents.
Sheffield and Middlesborough councils are already using the Open Banking solution solutions as part of the central government’s Household Support Fund scheme.
PayPoint’s Jo Toolan
Jo Toolan, managing director for payments at PayPoint, said that Coventry City Council’s move to start using OpenPay is an example of how the UK public sector is becoming more open to using fintech solutions.
“There is major untapped potential across local and central government in capitalising on Open Banking technology,” Toolan said.
“It will be great to see Coventry City Council using OpenPay to revolutionise how funds are distributed and also potentially helping to help reduce reliance on cheques, which so many parts of the public sector continue to wrestle with.”
The UK government introduced the Household Support Fund scheme in September 2021, pledging support for vulnerable households over winter.
The Fund is distributed by local councils in England through small payments to help households meet the cost of daily needs, such as food, clothing and utilities.
Prior to implementing PayPoint’s ‘OpenPay’ solution, Sheffield City Council had been distributing Household Support Fund and Local Assistance Scheme funds via cheque and BACS payments, which could take up to two weeks and up to three days, respectively, to reach recipients.
In March this year, PayPoint was added to Crown Commercial Service’s new Open Banking Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) framework, used by public sector buyers seeking official providers of Open Banking services.
