Alternative Ways to Pay - Transforming into a cashless council

From Monday 12 November, our Customer Service Centres will no longer take cash and will be moving solely to more efficient payment methods including direct debit, online transactions and card payments. Don't worry about these changes, our Customer Service advisers will be on hand to provide support and advise on alternative forms of payment.

The Transformation Strategy 2017-2022, endorsed at the meeting of Full Council on Thursday 28 June, sets out our plans to modernise services and move towards digitalisation.

Council services face budget reductions of £32m over the next three years. The Transformation Strategy aims to secure a fairer, kinder and more connected East Ayrshire by redesigning Council services to ensure they remain financially viable and best meet the needs of our communities.

Face-to-face cash transactions are expensive to process and deliver, and cost the Council considerably more than electronic transactions. By modernising services, the Council will realise significant savings and people will remain at the heart of service delivery.

The Council is committed to retaining our customer service centres, but to do so we must modernise and consider which services are best delivered within these locations. 

The removal of cash payment facilities will allow the offices to be sensitively redesigned and made much more customer friendly and welcoming.

From now until Friday 9 November, our teams will be working with residents to provide guidance and support on the most convenient and straightforward ways to pay their bills.

Card only payment and enquiry positions have already been introduced and the cash limit per transaction has been reduced to £300.

We would strongly encourage our residents to move towards these modern payment methods, which are more secure, convenient and cost effective.