Category: 91Èȱ¬
Date: 31.03.2006
Printable version
The 91Èȱ¬ announced today that it has selected PayPoint plc as its supplier for a six-year contract to provide a range of 'over-the-counter' services for TV Licensing.
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The 91Èȱ¬ expects to save in excess of £100m over the contract.
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Under the new contract, PayPoint will deliver TV Licensing services to the 91Èȱ¬ including issuing new TV licences, renewing existing licences and processing payments for the Cash Easy Entry payment scheme for those on income-related state benefits.
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Two hundred thousand TV Licensing cash scheme members already use PayPoint services.
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The current provider of over-the-counter services is the Post Office®.
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PayPoint will provide the services from 2 May 2006.
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There will be a transition period of three months until 31 July 2006 during which licence payers can continue to use the Post Office® to purchase or renew their licence.
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PayPoint will take responsibility for all 'over the counter' services from 31 July.
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TV Licensing will also be phasing out its savings stamps and bringing in a savings card which will provide a greater level of security for licence payers.
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People can continue to buy savings stamps until 16 July 2006 and can continue to use savings stamps at the Post Office® until 31 July 2006.
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After that date, stamps can still be used to buy a licence and their value can be redeemed, by contacting TV Licensing.
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A national communications campaign will begin in April to inform licence payers of the changes.
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Pipa Doubtfire, Head of Revenue Management at the 91Èȱ¬, said: "This contract will provide better value for the licence payer and will enable the 91Èȱ¬ to put more money into programmes.
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"PayPoint services offer a convenient way of paying for a TV licence if people want to buy one 'over the counter' rather than through the website, by phone or by post.
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"We aim to make it as easy as possible for people to buy a TV licence which is why we offer many different ways to pay.
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"People don't need to take any action at the moment. We will be writing to everyone who has purchased a licence using stamps in the last year to explain what will happen next and provide them with a savings card by the end of June.
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"We have set up a recorded information helpline to answer questions people may have on 0870 850 6709 (24 hours) from 1 April."
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Dominic Taylor, Chief Executive of PayPoint, said: "This contract is a significant win for PayPoint and another example of our success in driving transaction volumes by deepening our relationships with clients and broadening our product portfolio.
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"Our network of terminals has now overtaken that of the Post Office and we believe that this size advantage will enable us to deliver an improved service to TV Licensing customers."
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Further information can also be obtained from the TV Licensing website at www.tvlicensing.co.uk.
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These changes do not affect customers living in the Channel Islands or Isle of Man.
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Notes to Editors
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The 91Èȱ¬ ran an OJEU* procurement during 2005/6 for the 'over-the-counter' payment services for TV Licensing.
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The 91Èȱ¬'s procurement process sought the best organisation which could deliver the required services, while offering the best value for money for the licence fee payer.
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The aim is to put additional money into programmes and services.
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The number of people buying their licence 'over the counter' has declined steadily as more people pay by Direct Debit and other methods such as online.
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For the year to January 2006, half a million fewer licences were bought in the Post Office® than in the previous 12 months.
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Over 59%, or more than 12 million licence payers, currently pay by Direct Debit.
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* OJEU stands for the Official Journal of the European Union (formally known as OJEC). This is the publication in which all contracts from the public sector which are valued above a certain threshold must be published.
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TV Licensing
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The 91Èȱ¬ is the Licensing Authority.
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'TV Licensing' is a trading name used by agents contracted by the 91Èȱ¬ to administer the collection of television licence fees and the enforcement of the television licensing system.
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The majority of the administration of TV Licensing is contracted to Capita Business Services Ltd, with the administration of cash easy payment schemes contracted to Revenue Management Services Ltd and marketing and public relations activities contracted to the AMV Consortium.
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TV Licensing is an efficient organisation which maximises licence fee revenue so that as much money as possible goes to the 91Èȱ¬'s programmes and services.
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The Government's recent White Paper, 'A public service for all: the 91Èȱ¬ in the digital age', welcomed the 91Èȱ¬'s adoption of a wide range of payments for the TV licence.
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Making it as easy as possible for people to pay for their TV Licence continues to be a priority for the 91Èȱ¬ and TV Licensing.
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TV Licensing has also worked hard to utilise new technology to make the licence fee easier to pay.
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For example, online payment now represents around 2.4 per cent of all licences sold.
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TV Licensing aims to have 20% of all customer interactions fulfilled by self-service applications, such as web and automated telephone services.
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An SMS reminder service is in use for members of the Cash Easy Entry scheme (for those on income-related state benefits), who can sign up to receive text message reminders on their mobile phones to make payments.
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More than 250,000 scheme members had signed up for this service by November 2005.
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In 1991, when the 91Èȱ¬ took over the responsibility for managing licence fee collection and administration from the 91Èȱ¬ Office, collection costs were 6.2 per cent of licence fee income.
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Now, collection costs are down from 5.4 per cent to 5.2% over the past year as a percentage of licence fee income, despite an increase in sales and the lowest ever evasion rate of 5%.
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Driving down collection costs has been achieved at the same time as the volume of licences in force has grown considerably.
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Since 1991, licences are up by 26% (19.6m to 24.7m).
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PayPoint
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There are just under 15,000 PayPoint outlets (14,891) which will be able to operate the new TV Licensing services from 2 May, rising to 17,000 in 2007.
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PayPoint believes, based on its internal mapping systems, that over 95 per cent of UK households are situated within one mile in urban areas or five miles in rural areas of a PayPoint Retail Agent.
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MORI research conducted in September and October 2002 indicated that 97 per cent of PayPoint's consumers were satisfied with the PayPoint service.
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The service is provided free of charge to the consumer.
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PayPoint's Retail Agency network includes selected stores such as Co-ops, One Stop, Spar, Londis, Costcutter, Texaco, Somerfield and many other regional and independent retailers.
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PayPoint outlets are open for an average of 100 hours per week and 98 per cent are open on Sundays. 90% of PayPoint payments take place between 9.00am and 8.00pm, when 79% of its outlets are open.
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PayPoint processes, on average, more than five million consumer transaction payments per week.
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PayPoint is a leading branded payment collection network used, primarily, for the cash payment of bills and services and pre-payments for mobile telephones and energy meters.
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PayPoint commenced trading in 1996. Since then, PayPoint has added to its founder client base, grown its Retail Agency network, developed new services and now has more than 500 clients.
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For the financial year ended 31 March 2005, the company processed more than 259 million payments, with a value of approximately £2.9bn.
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