Help and Security

You should be able to find all of the help you require here, but if having looked at the information in these pages you require further help, you should contact our Customer Services by using this form or telephone on 01303 852555 during office hours (8.30am-5.00pm Monday to Friday).

Security of your Details

During the whole transaction, your details are encrypted using the latest technology used by all major online banks and shops, protecting the information you enter between your browser and our servers. For instance your card number is safely transmitted in this way.

The technology we use is a High-grade Encryption AES-256 256 bit SSL Certificate provided by thawte. Always check the padlock in your browser and the thawte icon on our Online Payments pages to verify the authenticity of the site you are connected to.

When our servers receive the confirmation that you want to Make the Payment, the payment details are immediately transmitted to the UK Government Gateway who handles the payment for us. We use the same security features between our server and the UK Government Gateway, plus some additional security checks, to ensure that your information is handled in the safest possible way. As soon as the payment is accepted by the UK Government Gateway, our server erases all trace of the card number from the system, including logs and memory. This way, once the transaction is complete, Shepway District Council only retains the information about what you have paid but we don't hold your card number anywhere: only the last 5 digits of your card number are kept in case you need to contact us about the transaction.

You may also want to refer to our standard Security Statement and the security information page available form the home page of the UK Government Gateway website.

Making a Payment

Submitting your Payment

When you have entered all the information required and and your card details, you will be presented with a Confirmation page where you will be asked to check that all the details are correct.

From the Confirmation page, when you click on Make the Payment button, the system will:

• Check that the card details you have entered are correct.
• Check that the your card company are prepared to accept the transaction.

If the transaction is accepted the payment will be committed and you will be presented with a Receipt page.

If the transaction was unsuccessful in any way, your bank account will NOT be affected.

Receiving a Receipt

The Receipt page shows a Payment Reference number, which you can print for your records.

Alternatively you can ask for a Receipt email if you have provided an email address from the Confirmation page.

What happens after your payment is accepted?

When your payment is accepted, the following processes take place:

1. Your Card Account: your Card Provider is notified of the transaction and your Card Account adjusted accordingly. When this happens depends on your Card Provider and therefore you should address any queries about when the transaction will appear on your Card Account to them.
2. Your Council Account: all payments made up to 4.30pm on a working day will appear on your Council Account the following working day.