Hammersmith & Fulham on track to recover £150,000 annually with PaySuite surcharging

For local authorities looking to manage costs without compromising services, even targeted changes to established processes can deliver meaningful financial benefits. Working with Access PaySuite, Hammersmith & Fulham Council has introduced surcharging on eligible card payments, enabling it to recover costs previously absorbed by the organisation. In the nine weeks since going live in mid-August, the council has recovered just under £20,000, with around £150,000 a year projected if current trends hold. The initiative was supported by an experienced PaySuite team and has maintained existing payment choices for residents and businesses.

With more than £100 million in payments processed annually, Hammersmith & Fulham Council recognised the potential value of reviewing its approach to card processing fees.

Card payments give residents and businesses a convenient, self-service way to pay. However, they also carry merchant fees, which can vary considerably depending on the card type and represent a significant cost to the council. Working with PaySuite, the council explored whether surcharging on eligible business and corporate card payments could help recover some of these costs.

Karen Sharkey, Finance Systems Manager, reviewed the legislation and looked at how a neighbouring authority was already using surcharging to understand how it could work for Hammersmith & Fulham. What emerged was an opportunity to recover eligible processing costs while keeping the payment services residents and businesses rely on.

A practical approach to unlocking cost recovery

The council worked through the financial and operational considerations, reviewing merchant fees with its provider and exploring how surcharging could be introduced across eligible services. With fees spread across 50 to 60 card categories, and no like-for-like comparison for business and corporate cards, a separate surcharge for every card type would have been difficult to set up and harder to explain.

Instead, the council developed a single fixed surcharge, which helped balance financial recovery with simplicity and fairness to residents. The approach was designed around a clear principle: recovering eligible processing costs rather than generating additional income.

• Certain payments, including fines and penalty notices, were excluded.
• The proposal received agreement from senior leaders and approval from the councillor responsible for finance, providing a clear basis for implementation.

For the council, the result was a practical, consistent approach to recovering costs without a complicated charging structure.

A successful rollout, backed by an established partnership

PaySuite's understanding of the council and dedicated implementation support helped deliver a positive experience. Having worked with PaySuite for many years, the council already had an established relationship with the team supporting its payment services, and that continuity proved valuable when introducing surcharging.

As one of PaySuite's pilot customers, the council worked with a project manager who had supported previous initiatives and already understood its systems, processes and requirements. This existing knowledge provided a strong starting point, while regular meetings, close collaboration and dedicated support helped progress the project to launch.

For Karen Sharkey, the quality of support was a particular highlight.

• Just under £20,000 recovered in the nine weeks since launch, with around £150,000 a year projected if current trends hold.
• The financial benefits have been achieved while existing payment choices stay in place. Residents and businesses can continue using the council's established payment channels, with surcharging applying only to eligible card payments.
• So far, the feedback has been limited. At the time of the interview, Karen had received just two queries relating to surcharging, with no complaints.

This will support the council's 'Ruthless financial efficiency' programme.

For a council processing substantial payment volumes, this represents a meaningful opportunity to offset costs that would otherwise be absorbed through merchant fees. For Hammersmith & Fulham, the initiative shows how a considered change to payment processing can deliver measurable financial value while keeping the flexibility residents and businesses expect. The council's experience offers other local authorities a compelling example of the potential value of surcharging, supported by an experienced payment technology partner.

The next step is to see how the figures develop over a full year. The £150,000 figure is a projection that assumes current trends hold, so actual recovery can be compared against it as more payments are processed.

Could your council recover these costs too? Book a demo and we'll work through your card payment volumes together, so you know what surcharging could mean for your budget before you commit to anything. o find out how surcharging could work for your council, contact the Access PaySuite team.