Once again SCNF secured free places for our members at Pre-Paid 2010. This 2 day conference covers all the bases on payment and SCNF has helped shape the public sector stream which was much improved this year. This event is now an essential fixture for anyone considering or implementing mobile, internet or contactless payment in the public sector. The highlights were numerous and included:

- SCNF requirement for pre-paid round table – see notes to be posted on website
- Bracknell Forest – still extending and enhancing its scheme after 8 years
- Croydon explaining how pre-payment for school meals has saved £750k already
- Westminster accepting card and telephone payment to save over £7m pa in costs
- Round table – steps to overcome the barriers and implement pre-paid in public sector

- Mastercard being used for payment on Liverpool buses
- sQuid service underpinning cashless catering and now ITSO travel pre-payment
- Update on Kent County scheme for making payments in personalised care
- Rollout of contactless Visa payment and Visa programmes (white label & close loop)
- LASSeO identifying the barriers to progress
- Mick Davies appealing for a payment service provider to step forward
- TfL news on acceptance of EMV by 2012 and first screening of new video
- Steve Beecroft exploring smart in football clubs which revealed there is a business case
- Industry experts discussing the future of mobile, NFC and internet payment models
- Pending e-money regulatory changes – may impact school meals and transport

This is the only UK (and possibly European) event where you learn about the latest case studies and can hear directly from Visa, Mastercard, E-Money Association, card issuers, banks, TfL, alternative payment solutions, consultants, lawyers and HM Treasury.

I hope we can contribute some success stories to an even more successful event next June. Look out for SCNF offer to members next year. If you want sight ofg outputs from this year's event, go to SCNF site or email events@scnf.org.uk.

Kevin Farquharson
Co-Chair SCNF
www.scnf.org.uk

Feedback from Pre-Paid09

Pre-paid09 marked another success since our re-launch. Over 35 people took part in the main Public Sector session which ran in parallel with a transport stream attended by other local authorities. There was a lively debate around the business case, media and applications.

In the masterclass we split into two groups, one discussed the use of pre-paid debit while the other covered low value e-purse. We will publish notes to members in due course.

Mastercard has become very active in this area and at short notice added a Pre-paid in Government workshop to the programme. This introduced some very interesting case studies from outside the UK. In future events we well press the organisers to bring these sessions together and publicise in advance. I am sure more members would have wanted to attend if they had know the range of topics being covered.

Look out for details of next event in Cambridge 29-30 Sept 09.

Kevin Farquharson
Co-Chair SCNF
www.scnf.org.uk

SCNF at Pre-Paid09

Public Sector attendees at Pre-Paid09 will have the opportunity to find out about and discuss alternative payment applications which can be readily added to a resident card.

Payment is no longer just about paying for school meals. During the Masterclass and panel discussion, you will learn about rollout of the sQuid e-purse in Scotland, the G2G Mastercard pre-paid card in Cambridgeshire and other pre-paid applications. You can find about the uses of a payment applications and practicalities of rolling out on a resident card.

For information about the event and to receive the post event report, contact chair@scnf.org.uk

Kevin Farquharson
Co-Chair SCNF

www.scnf.org.uk

Pre-paid Masterclass

The SCNF has a great offer for its Local Authority members who can join a SCNF masterclass on Pre-Paid in Transport, Low Value Payment or Personalised Care and attend the Pre-Paid09 event for free (numbers are limited).

During the sessions, delegates will be joined by experts in the field and have the opportunity to discuss issues and challenges in implementing these applications alongside transport and other smart card applications. The sessions will also include briefings on case studies of both EMV and e-purse applications. The objective is to help delegates discover how they could implement pre-paid in their service areas.

One of the first Local Authority pre-paid card is the Cambridgeshire G2G card (see www.g2gcard.co.uk) . This scheme has recently won an award for payment card schemes and will be one of the case studies discussed.

To attend, you only need to register on the new Forum website and send an email requesting full event details. If any commercial organisations are interested in attending, we have a discount offer for the delegate package.

Kevin Farquharson
Co-Chair SCNF
www.scnf.org.uk