Colchester Borough Council leads the way

LONDON (28 April, 2005) – Colchester Borough Council is the first local authority to sign up to the OneVu solution in a move designed to increase efficiency and help meet the requirements of the E-government agenda. OneVu is the UK’s first consolidated electronic bill presentment and payment service which lets people see, track and pay all their bills from the familiar, secure environment of their online bank.

Later this year the 156,000 residents of Colchester, the sixth largest borough in the country, will be able to pay their Council Tax bills using the OneVu service which they can enter as part of their normal online banking session. There they will be presented with a consolidated list of all the bills they have chosen to receive, not just their council tax bill, they can view the detail and with a single click can be securely connected with the billers' website.

Where payment is not driven by a Direct Debit, an on-line bill payment can be made, in both cases putting the consumer firmly in control of their bill payment. The OneVu service is free for consumers to use and offers a convenient and secure access to multiple billers' websites saving the consumer time and providing a greater control of personal finances.

Colchester Borough Council’s decision to move forward with the project demonstrates its commitment to offering more choice to its customers.

Commenting on the decision Phil Pettit, ICT Programme Manager at Colchester Borough Council, said: “We have been keen to take up the E-government challenge and have recently launched our own site where residents can view and pay their council tax bills online.

“The OneVu solution enhances our investment in this area by offering our residents the option of a 'consolidated service', which means they don't have to take the time to log in to a large number of websites to pay each of their bills individually. We pride ourselves in being at the forefront of any technology solution which will bring greater efficiencies and higher levels of customer service, and we believe that the OneVu Solution does both.”

Martin Kearsley, CEO at OneVu, said: “The OneVu solution will enable the residents of Colchester to access and pay not only their council tax bill but eventually nearly all their bills through a single interface via their bank. There are now over 14 million people regularly banking online and by 2008 it is predicted that figure will rise to 25 million. With this comes an increasing desire from consumers to do more online and independent research shows that consolidated e-billing is a service that people want.

“The OneVu solution is perfectly timed to coincide with the UK online banking success story and the advent of the E-government agenda. We already have a number of billers on board and interest from many others including major UK businesses and government organisations.”

Editor's note:

• OneVu is the UK’s first consolidated electronic bill presentment and payment service which lets people see, track and pay all their bills from the familiar, secure environment of their online bank.
• Using proven technology, the OneVu solution has been designed to encourage discussion with, and incorporate input from, the banking and billing communities. Invisible to online consumers who will only see their recognised billers’ and bankers’ brands, the OneVu solution encourages participation from the widest range of partners.
• OneVu is a joint venture between Voca (formerly BACS Ltd), which processes over 4 billion financial transactions each year, and CheckFree Corporation (NASDAQ: CKFR), a global leader in financial electronic commerce services.

For further information please contact:

Lizzie Woolley, The Weston Partnership,
Tel: 020 8671 9031
07881 923 530
Lizzie@westonpartnership.co.uk