Payment Plan

Summary of Submission

PaymentPlan is transforming council debt recovery by combining innovative technology, behavioural insight and a more human approach to customer communication.

At the heart of the platform is Jamie, a unique communications engine designed to provide a different voice for residents who no longer engage with traditional letters, calls or enforcement activity. Jamie adapts communications according to vulnerability, debt type and the customer’s payment journey, using supportive, carefully crafted messaging to encourage sustainable repayment arrangements.

The fully automated platform enables customers to understand what they owe and establish affordable payment plans from their mobile phone in minutes. For councils, it provides a scalable, low-cost solution requiring no additional staffing or complex IT implementation, with performance monitored in real time.

Already delivering strong collection rates across traditionally difficult-to-recover debts, PaymentPlan demonstrates how collaboration, technology and behavioural understanding can modernise collections while reducing costs, improving engagement and creating a fairer experience for residents.

Voicescape and Nottingham City Council

Summary of Submission

Nottingham City Council administers and collects around £195m in Council Tax each year. Following a Section 114 notice and Commissioner oversight, the Council needed to improve collection without extra spending or adding unnecessary pressure on residents in one of England's most deprived cities.

Working with Voicescape, Nottingham redesigned  recovery  from a letter-led process into a  same-day, voice-led engagement model. When a Direct Debit bounces, residents are contacted that day, and can pay instantly, self-serve, or be warm-transferred to a dedicated officer.

The new model spans failed Direct Debit, pre-reminder, pre-summons, cash payer  and Direct Debit nudge campaigns, supported by Nottingham's Power BI dashboards, reporting on not just whether residents paid, but whether they paid enough, soon enough, to prevent escalation.

In-year collection rose from 91.42% to 91.73%, arrears reduced by £570k, and 131 summonses were prevented.

Officers now focus on earlier support conversations, not avoidable recovery processing.

Wealden District Council and Ascendant Solutions Limited

Summary of Submission

Wealden District Council has transformed the way residents access Council Tax Reduction by pioneering a bold new approach that treats support as a discount rather than a traditional benefit. Developed in partnership with Ascendant Solutions, the innovative solution, known as Alfie, has reimagined a long-established process that had remained largely unchanged for decades.

By removing unnecessary complexity and redesigning the customer journey around simplicity, accessibility and dignity, Wealden has made it easier for eligible residents to receive the support they need while creating a more efficient and resilient service. The initiative demonstrates how technology, innovation and strong partnership working can challenge convention and deliver meaningful change for communities.

More than a service improvement, CTR as a Discount represents a new way of thinking about public services, placing the customer experience at the heart of design. The result is a scalable model for the future of local government that is already attracting interest from councils across the UK.

Wigan Council and Destin Solutions

Summary of Submission

Wigan Council and Destin Solutions have developed a unique, ground-breaking ‘Single View of Business’ (SVoB) solution, generating a direct link between business intelligence and revenue generation. The solution has been built from the ground up and facilitates targeted, proactive and intelligence-led engagement with local businesses. It supports the ‘Invest in Wigan’ initiative of attracting business growth, property investment and job creation through identification of sector trends, business decline and growth areas. This enables early intervention to protect jobs, strengthen resilience and safeguard revenue.

Taking data from sources including business rates, planning and licensing departments and consolidating it, Wigan have also categorised all 10,000+ local businesses by sector and type. This has led to the creation of one of the most comprehensive and dynamic ‘local business profiling’ solutions currently available in the UK. Reducing data gathering time by approximately 96%, it automates the process of running multi-day analytical tasks into minutes.