Post Office

1. The UK Post Office manages over 11,800 branches
making it the largest post office network in Europe. A
vital Post Office function is the payment of state benefits
on behalf of the UK Government and over three million
people now collect their monies using the Post Office
card account (POca) designed for those who do not have
a bank account.
HP was first engaged to set up this service for the Post
Office and UK Government in 2002 and it has successfully
managed the day-to-day operation since then. When the
initial contract came to an end in 2010, HP won a new
five-year contract to further enhance the service and
continue to deliver the payment system set up under the
previous agreement.
The Post Office wanted a supplier that could not only
continue to deliver an end-to-end service but also
would implement a complex development program.
Stringent new service levels were imposed along with
strict timelines and financial penalties for missing
critical milestones.
Objective
Modernize the UK state benefit payments system by
introducing a fully automated direct payment solution
Approach
Used European and UK tender mechanisms to find
a vendor that could provide an end-to-end
outsourced solution
IT improvements
• Introduces electronic data feeds between the UK
Government and the Post Office to increase security
and reliability of data, as well as reduce fraud
• Automates financial processes to speed up
applications and provide greater security
• Provides access to the Post Office network of
Automated Teller Machines (ATM) for the payout
of benefits
Business benefits
• Modernizes and automates the UK benefits payment
system to reduce the cost to the taxpayer and comply
with Financial Services Authority (FSA) regulations
• Supports Government’s policy of financial inclusion for
the country’s entire population
• Enables benefit recipients to have instant access to
their cash via simple paperless transactions, thereby
improving customer satisfaction
HP customer
case study
HP Enterprise
Services gets vote
of confidence from
Post Office and UK
Government
Industry
Public sector
Post Office card accounts streamline
benefit payments for over three
million customers
“Over the last eight years we’ve been impressed by the levels of service
provided in enabling hundreds of millions of payments to our Post Office
card account customers.”
—Kevin Seller, head of government services, Post Office Ltd

2. Automatic tracking
A workflow management system automatically tracks
and manages all recipient correspondence, while the
Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) banking engine
manages payments made into card accounts. These
come from various Government agencies such as the
Northern Ireland Social Security Agency, the Department
for Work and Pensions (DWP) and Her Majesty’s
Revenue and Customs. EBT authorizes all transactions,
only enabling withdrawals when sufficient funds
exist in the account, which means customers cannot
become overdrawn.
Fifty thousand documents are scanned each month
at HP’s scanning center in Swansea. These include
an average of 10,000 requests for new accounts that
need to be put into the account opening process.
Seven-hundred thousand new and replacement cards
and over 200,000 replacement personal identification
number codes are issued each year with the help of
Thames Card Technology. Millions of quarterly and
interim statements are printed and dispatched, and other
correspondence, including welcome packs, is generated
through HP’s print fulfillment center in Washington, Tyne
and Wear.
Kevin Seller, head of government services, Post
Office Ltd., concludes, “The positives for me are that
HP operates the card account and that is absolutely
crucial in terms of the service it provides to customers.
It has to be reliable: It has to do what it says it will, and it
has to do it day-in and day-out; and it does.”
For more information
To read more about HP Enterprise Services go to
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ATM network
A major innovation has been the introduction of access
to Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) which are currently
situated at over 2,000 Post Office branches and support
two million transactions a month. Improving customer
service, they enable benefit recipients to check their
balances and collect money at any time of the day or
night without the need to visit the Post Office counter;
helping improve customer service for all customers
visiting these branches. There are plans to extend
this service.
Processes for opening Post Office card accounts also
have been streamlined, as Post Office client relationship
manager, Willie Hughes explains, “We have further
enhanced security for opening accounts by moving from
a manual paper-based system to electronic transfer of
data between government departments and HP.”
Comprehensive service
In addition to these innovations, HP also continues to
manage the day-to-day operation of this vital service,
which at its inception, was the largest payment project of
its kind in Europe.
HP manages over 3.2 million customer accounts with
£25.38 billion (approximately $40 billion) in benefits paid
annually. The 120 staff at its customer contact center in
the city of Preston deal with an average of 176,000 calls
a month and aim to answer 80 percent of them within
20 seconds.
“The HP product and services set is comprehensive.
Offering the services we require within its product
portfolio and delivering the benefits it talks about: I’m
very happy,” says Brian Deveney, head of Post Office
Managed Services and Sourcing.
© Copyright 2012 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice.
The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and
services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors
or omissions contained herein.
4AA4-2177ENW, Created July 2012
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Company profile
Post Office card accounts
were created as part of
Government plans to
modernize UK benefit
payments. The changes
were made to fulfill
a policy of financial
inclusion for the entire
population, achieve value
for money, reduce fraud
and improve accounting.
The Department of Work
and Pensions awarded
the contract to the Post
Office. Seeking a prime
contractor that could set
up and then manage an
automated end-to-end
benefit payment service,
the Post Office issued its
own tender in 2002, and
the contract was awarded
to HP.
In the first two years,
HP opened 4.8 million
card accounts, making
this the largest
implementation program
of its type in Europe and it
has successfully managed
the service on a day-to-
day basis since then.
Customer
solution at
a glance
Software
• Electronic Benefits
Transfer
HP Services
• Consumer Card Services
• Customer Engagement
Management Services
• Customer
Communications
Management Services
• Inbound Document
Processing Services
• Outbound Document
Processing Services
• Contact Center
Outsourcing Services
• Applications
Development