Financial Transaction Service

Our payment service, also known as the Financial Transaction Service (FTS), processes all planning application fee payments on behalf of local authorities providing certainty and consistency to both sides of the transaction. The service was introduced in September 2018.

Key benefits

Local Authorities only receive planning applications when either no fee is due or the application fee payment has been confirmed (regardless of payment method). This alters the focus of the submission process to ensure that applicants and agents pay fees promptly in order for their applications to be submitted.

It also means that upon receipt of a planning application from the Planning Portal, local authorities can be confident in beginning their validation process, knowing that the application fee has been paid and the funds are on their way to them.

By processing the application fee transaction, we also absorb any associated costs in the process (e.g. credit card payment fees), ensuring that 100% of the planning application fee is passed to the local authority and that valuable staff resources are not spent on reconciliation of cheque payments or other such processes.

Applicants and agents also benefit by having an improved standard range of payment options, with the same methods and details used for every planning application made via the Planning Portal, regardless of which local authority they are applying to.

Nominate

Nominate (previously known as Payment ReDirect) is a payment option that allows users to nominate someone else to pay for a planning application.

Use of the service has greatly increased since the introduction of our payment service (FTS) and has been positively received as it facilitates prompt payment for applications by working simultaneously with the submission of applications only after the correct fee has been received. 

'Offline' payment methods

As there will always be some payments that cannot be made online, rather than placing the burden on local authorities to process and reconcile offline payments, we:

• Provide a telephone payment service to support submission of applications.
• Provide facilities to allow application fees to be paid by bank transfer or cheque.

Instead of there being a different point of contact for each type of payment to each local authority, our services provide consistent details for every payment.

We also wait for payments by bank transfer and cheque to be confirmed before allowing the application to be submitted, encouraging prompt payment, and removing the need for application processing to be put on hold whilst waiting for such payments to arrive and be processed.

Passing the fees to local authorities

We transfer funds to local authority bank accounts on a daily basis and provide remittance advice to ensure that payment amounts can easily be matched up against the applications received.

Refunds

As dictated by legislation, all refunds must be issued directly by the party that received payment, to the payee via the same payment method.

We therefore manage the process of issuing refunds based on confirmation from the local authority that one is due.

Requests for a refund to be issued can be raised via our service desk.

If funds have already been passed to the local authority from us, then the refund to us will also be handled as part the request.

Our service charge

All applications submitted through the Planning Portal which attract a planning fee of over £60 will use our payment service. The charge for the service is £58.33 +VAT.

The income from the service charge will be retained by the Planning Portal to cover the costs of delivering the payment service and additionally help sustain the Planning Portal’s entire suite of content and services, including 1App, ensuring that the benefits we provide to local authorities continue and grow.

This concept of adding value, and not just an arbitrary charge, is a key tenet of our business model.

As part of this, we are committed to a roadmap of improvements that will:

• keep our services current and compliant
• allow an increasing range of consent types to be applied for online
• enhance all aspects of the process, from collaborative working and professional functions to supporting documentation and management of local level requirements
• increase the quality of our data outputs for local authorities, sector professionals and applicants

Find out more

You can find further information in our FAQs¹ which we will continue to update if new questions arise.

For anything which is not covered please contact our Support Team on 0333 323 4589 or by email at support@planningportal.co.uk².

1. https://ecab.planningportal.co.uk/Uploads/PPQ_LPA_Guidance_and_FAQs.pdf
2. mailto:support@planningportal.co.uk