Bassetlaw Council receives lifetime achievement award from Bacs

From dinosaurs to deepest space - local authority shows how to promote Direct Debit through the ages

Bassetlaw District Council has been recognised by Bacs Payment Schemes Limited (Bacs), the not-for-profit industry body behind the UK's leading automated payment methods, for its outstanding committment to Direct Debit. The local authority is one of the first councils in the country to receive a prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award acknowledging its tireless efforts in promoting Direct Debit to residents as a quick, simple and efficient method of paying council tax bills.

Key to Bassetlaw's accomplishments has been a succession of innovative marketing campaigns which have engaged with the public and conveyed simple but effective marketing messages about Direct Debit. Topical campaigns, based around iconic movies and television characters, have brought Bassetlaw's marketing material to life over the years and helped the council get more than 70% of residents to pay by Direct Debit.

The marketing material produced by Bassetlaw has been so successful that their 2007 campaign featuring celebrity David Dickinson has also been syndicated to 32 other councils in the UK, with a further eight others using another Bassetlaw homespun campaign called Smash Martian. These authorities now use the literature for their own promotional purposes and obtain advice from the Bassetlaw team on the most effective Direct Debit strategies to adopt. As a result of this nationwide collaboration, Bassetlaw and its affiliated councils benefit from financial economies of scale and significant cost savings when ordering and printing promotional leaflets and funding celebrity endorsements.

Andrew Burton, head of revenues and customer services at Bassetlaw District Council, said: "The Audit Commission estimates that each conversion to Direct Debit can save a council around £5.00 in annual collection costs. In the first three months of 2007, Basstelaw's messages helped convert 34,000 new households to Direct Debit. An estimated further 16,000 were due to have changed by the end of the year. As a direct result of this work our partnership will realise savings of around £250,000, a figure which is predicted to increase to over a million GB pounds within three to four years."

Continuing ge said: "Direct Debit is a fantastic payment method that has allowed us to realise significant back office efficiencies and cost savings. This in turn has enabled us to improve the level of customer service that we can provide to local residents - both in terms of flexibility over payment dates and frequency, but also in terms of broader council services. We are delighted to have received this level of recognition from the team at Bacs. However, this does not mean we will retire gracefully. We have another fantastic theme to offer in 2008, which is currently under wraps."

Commenting, Michael Chambers, managing director of Bacs, said: "Bassetlaw's achievement is a fantastic demonstration of what can be achieved by councils who actively promote Direct Debit. The innovative campaigns developed by this council have obviously had real resonance with employees and residents alike, helping collection teams in Bassetlaw and beyond, drive up Direct Debit penetration rates and achieve significant financial savings."

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