The essential guide to flexible and modern payments for councils

Flexible payments are no longer a nice-to-have—they’re essential infrastructure for councils that want to offer convenient, secure, and inclusive payment experiences to their communities.

Payreq’s Flexible Payments solution is designed specifically for local government and utilities. It helps organisations offer customers more ways to pay, reduce failed transactions, and improve internal efficiency—without replacing existing systems.

Flexible Payments includes a wide range of options to meet the varied needs of ratepayers:

• Card payments (debit and credit)
• Click-to-pay with pre-filled details
• Auto-pay and scheduled payments
• Real-time status tracking and smart retries

These options can be layered with PayTo and PayID for those wanting modern, NPP-enabled solutions, but the core focus is flexibility—meeting people where they’re at.

A five-step roadmap for delivering flexible payments

Step 1: Define what flexibility looks like for your community

Flexible payments aren’t just about adding a payment type. They’re about giving ratepayers the ability to choose how, when, and where they pay—on their terms. Whether they want to pay instantly from their phone or schedule payments around their pay cycle, Payreq’s platform is built to support those preferences.

Step 2: Simplify the experience through digital delivery

Pairing flexible payments with secure digital notices gives ratepayers a seamless, tap-to-pay experience. Notices arrive directly to their Payreq Smart mailbox, complete with integrated payment options. No paper. No rekeying. No confusion.

Not every ratepayer is ready to switch to full digital billing—and that’s okay. Flexible Payments through Payreq also supports paper notice recipients with smart options like QR code access to a secure digital payment portal. This means even those receiving printed notices can enjoy the same frictionless, mobile-friendly experience as digital customers—no app downloads, no login required.

Step 3: Choose the tools that fit your environment

Payreq integrates with your existing systems and offers flexibility on the backend too. You can:

• Use your current payment gateway or opt into Payreq’s own
• Mix and match payment types to suit your audience
• Start with traditional card options, and layer in PayTo and PayID as adoption grows

This isn’t a one-size-fits-all rollout—it’s designed to move at your pace.

Step 4: Make it easy for staff and ratepayers

Adopting flexible payments doesn’t need to mean extra complexity. Payreq provides onboarding materials, call centre scripts, and digital education tools to support both internal teams and end users.

For ratepayers, everything is accessible from the same secure platform. No new logins, no clunky redirects.

Step 5: Measure and evolve

Once live, Payreq gives you real-time insights into:

• Which payment options are most used
• How quickly payments are received
• Where drop-offs occur in the payment flow

This data helps you continuously refine messaging, outreach, and incentives to drive adoption.

Why it matters

Flexible Payments give your community choice, reduce payment friction, and support a better financial relationship between council and resident. And when paired with Payreq’s secure delivery and modern payment integration, it’s a future-proof solution that delivers value today.

Book a walkthrough or get started with Payreq

The real transformation? It starts when you let people pay the way they want—and stop chasing them to do it.