Payment service and nomination
Payment service and nomination
Our payment service standardises the process of paying for planning and building control applications across all authorities, providing a consistent range of options. The service was first introduced in 2018 for planning and 2024 for building control.
Key benefits
The service gives all applicants and agents the ability to pay planning application fees by various methods regardless of which local authority they are submitting to. These payments are confirmed instantly, allowing the application to be submitted.
Integrated into our payment service is the Nominate option1 allowing you to nominate another person to pay application fees online (e.g. your client or finance department).
Payments can be made online or by phone for applications up to £1,000. For larger fees, bank transfers are available.
A faster, more streamlined way to handle batch payments on the Planning Portal - designed to benefit both agents and their finance departments.
Note: By prior agreement only - Unless an agreement and account configuration is in place, all applications must be paid for individually.
Our payment service helps resolve the issue of invalid planning applications on receipt due to missing payments. It ensures that payment has been confirmed, regardless of method, before the application is made available to the local authority. Therefore authorities will be able to begin validation of your applications as soon as they receive them, saving time spent chasing payments.
Our service charge
All planning applications submitted through the Planning Portal which attract a planning fee of over £100 incur a service charge. The service charge is £70.83 +VAT.
For building control applications the service charge is £21.00 for all applications.
The income from the service charge will be retained by the Planning Portal to cover the costs of delivering the payment service, to invest in improving the planning application service.
As part of this, we are committed to a roadmap of improvements that will:
- keep our services current and compliant
- allow an increasing range of consent types to be applied for online
- enhance all aspects of the process, from collaborative working and professional functions to supporting documentation and management of local level requirements
- increase the quality of our data outputs for local authorities, professional users and applicants
Refunds
As dictated by legislation, all refunds must be issued directly by the party that received payment, to the payee via the same payment method.
We therefore manage the process of issuing refunds based on confirmation from the local authority that one is due.
We will make a refund in accordance with relevant legislation and regulations such as The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017.
If you believe a refund is due, you should discuss it with the local authority who, in turn, will arrange it with us.
Find out more
You can read our step-by-step guide2 to find out how to pay for a planning application yourself or nominate another person to pay.
- https://www.planningportal.co.uk/services/professional-portal/payment-nomination
- https://ecab.planningportal.co.uk/Uploads/PPQ_Agent_Walk-through.pdf