Prepaid Financial Services (PFS), has been appointed by shared service alliance of local authorities (Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea, and City of Westminster) to manage a prepaid card programme for all social care service users who are in receipt of a direct payment.

The turnkey solution will initially target 140 users who had previously held a prepaid card and then will subsequently roll out to all 1,400 adult service users, followed by children. The alliance also aims to apply the same prepaid model for other departments in future too.

The deployment of prepaid cards is part of the local authority transformation agenda: by increasing the uptake of prepaid cards, Hammersmith &Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea, and City of Westminster are not only meeting the Care Act obligations of inclusion and enablement but they will also significantly streamline the administration of their payments operation.

Prakash Daryanani, Director of ASC Finance said: “We are looking forward to experiencing the immediate returns of leaner working practices and cost savings but a longer term benefit will be an improvement in our understanding of users’ spend which will help shape commissioning. Whilst it was possible to analyse all the paperwork provided by service users, a real-time, digital system will enable us to better monitor spend and ensure that there is a spectrum of high-quality support available.

“Prepaid cards will also completely remove the end user’s administrative headache of reconciling paper-based receipts and bank statements to provide transparency of spend.”

Noel Moran, CEO, Prepaid Financial Services said: “Our experience and expertise in managing other local authorities’ programmes meant that we were well positioned to understand the challenges of developing a prepaid solution to disburse social care direct payments.

The simplicity of using a PFS prepaid card belies the agile technology platform that underpins it – meaning that the three local authorities have the ability to create a bespoke programme that suited their specific requirements tailored to benefit their end users.”

Prepaid Financial Services (PFS), has been appointed by shared service alliance of local authorities (Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea, and City of Westminster) to manage a prepaid card programme for all social care service users who are in receipt of a direct payment.

The turnkey solution will initially target 140 users who had previously held a prepaid card and then will subsequently roll out to all 1,400 adult service users, followed by children. The alliance also aims to apply the same prepaid model for other departments in future too.

The deployment of prepaid cards is part of the local authority transformation agenda: by increasing the uptake of prepaid cards, Hammersmith &Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea, and City of Westminster are not only meeting the Care Act obligations of inclusion and enablement but they will also significantly streamline the administration of their payments operation.

Prakash Daryanani, Director of ASC Finance said: “We are looking forward to experiencing the immediate returns of leaner working practices and cost savings but a longer term benefit will be an improvement in our understanding of users’ spend which will help shape commissioning. Whilst it was possible to analyse all the paperwork provided by service users, a real-time, digital system will enable us to better monitor spend and ensure that there is a spectrum of high-quality support available.

“Prepaid cards will also completely remove the end user’s administrative headache of reconciling paper-based receipts and bank statements to provide transparency of spend.”

Noel Moran, CEO, Prepaid Financial Services said: “Our experience and expertise in managing other local authorities’ programmes meant that we were well positioned to understand the challenges of developing a prepaid solution to disburse social care direct payments.

The simplicity of using a PFS prepaid card belies the agile technology platform that underpins it – meaning that the three local authorities have the ability to create a bespoke programme that suited their specific requirements tailored to benefit their end users.”