Buckinghamshire and Cheshire select Capita for digital work
Professional services firm Capita has picked up two contracts providing digital services to local authorities in England. Capita will now work with Cheshire East Council to provide a wide area network for public services across the county, while it will supply Buckinghamshire Council with a multi-channel payment solution for its 546,000 residents and business customers.
With under-funded local authorities increasingly being asked to do more with less, leveraging digital technology to supply services more efficiently has become essential for many councils. As a result, demand has spiked among councils looking for consultants able to support digital transformation programmes.
Capita, is an international business process outsourcing and professional services company headquartered in London. One of its areas of specialism is aiding public sector organisations with improving their digital offerings – something which has seen the firm pick up a diverse range of contracts assisting local councils in recent years. These have included projects with local authorities in Swansea, Suffolk, and Oxfordshire, among others.
Now, Capita has secured a new five-year contract worth £8 million with Cheshire East Council to provide a wide area network (WAN) connecting over 500 sites for local councils, schools, fire and police services within the county of Cheshire. Cheshire Next Generation WAN (CNGW) will provide improved connectivity between buildings, data centres and better internet and cloud access in a resilient and secure manner. This will help the local authorities deliver essential services to residents and support health and social care services across Cheshire.
Mark Cook, Executive Officer of Capita’s Technology Solutions division, commented, “This contract was secured on the strength of our longstanding relationship with Cheshire East Council and our innovative network design to support future digital transformation. We worked closely with the council’s team to ensure that our solution supports their digital services now and in the future.”
CNGW will be managed by Cheshire East Council ICT Services and will support Cheshire East Council and Cheshire West and Chester Council. Capita’s network infrastructure will also support the delivery of ‘town centre WiFi’ that can be accessed by residents and businesses to help connect with each other and be updated on local events. Awarded under the Crown Commercial Service ‘Network Services 2’ framework, the deal has an option to extend for another five years.
Payments system
Elsewhere, Capita has also secured a two-year contract worth £150,000 with Buckinghamshire Council. The agreement, which can also be extended for one year at its end, will see Capita deliver a multi-channel payment solution to simplify payment processes for its 546,000 residents and business customers.
The project will see Capita’s Pay360 solution replace the council’s existing software systems managing the council’s income. The fact Pay360 operates as a single cloud-based platform will offer payment options for e-commerce and contact centres, while also include enabling auto-telephone and post office payment choices. As a result, residents and businesses to easily make payments for services such as council tax, business rates and planning fees.
Stephen Ferry, managing director of Pay360, said, “This contract with Buckinghamshire Council is a clear demonstration of our experience and expertise in delivering payment solutions to local government. We have a clear understanding of local authorities and have developed our software solutions to deliver exactly what they need.”
Capita’s Pay360 has been delivering payment solutions to local government across the UK for over 20 years, and today supplies services to 230 authorities. It also supports secure home and remote working by enabling employees based in any location to take payments from customers – something particularly helpful to support the increased number of council employees that are working from home amid the coronavirus lockdown.
