Digital

ScotPayments – Onboarding milestones and reflections

July 17, 2025 by Stewart Hamilton No Comments | Category Digital Scotland, ScotPayments

Blog by Megan Abbott, Lead Business Relationship Manager, ScotPayments.

Milestones

In a recent update, we shared that the ScotPayments team was focused on onboarding new partners and progressing toward Public Beta.

Since then, we’ve made significant strides.

In January, we began onboarding the Scottish Public Pensions Agency (SPPA) as our second Beta partner. We’re proud to share that all pension products have now successfully transitioned and are processed through the ScotPayments service, helping us reach a new major milestone: over £1 billion in payments processed!

With SPPA now successfully onboard, the ScotPayments platform supports two partner organisations, marking a significant step forward in our journey as a common platform for public sector payments in Scotland.

Stephen Pathirana, Chief Executive at SPPA, shared his thoughts on the transition:

“The SPPA manages billions of pounds in payments to hundreds of thousands of pensioners which are now all processed through ScotPayments. The transition to the new platform was smooth and demonstrates that ScotPayments can operate at scale, deliver for other public bodies, and support wider public sector reform.”

Lesley Allen, Service Owner for ScotPayments, also reflected on the partnership:

“Securing SPPA as a Beta partner and early adopter has been a strategic move that has significantly strengthened the ScotPayments value proposition as a common payment platform for use across Scotland.

As one of the largest public sector organisations making outbound payments, SPPA’s involvement has been instrumental in shaping the evolution of our digital payments service. Through this partnership, we’ve been able to iteratively develop the platform to better meet the needs and expectations of the public sector. It has also opened up valuable co-creation opportunities, enabling us to design and deliver new features that further enhance the service.

Reaching the milestone of processing £1 billion earlier this month marks a major achievement for the programme team. It’s a testament to the strength of our collaboration with SPPA and the dedication of everyone involved in supporting the transformation of the payments landscape in Scotland ­­­- ­one of our main aims”

Reflections

The ScotPayments team is always reflecting on our past work and looking for ways to improve. As part of this, we held a retrospective (a meeting rooted in agile methodology) to evaluate the onboarding process. The goal was to identify what went well and what could have gone better. While the overall feedback from both the ScotPayments team and SPPA was positive, we identified several areas for improvement and have been actively working to address these ahead of our next partner onboarding.

Our user-centred design team also conducted observational research with finance staff at SPPA. This qualitative method of research involves observing users in their natural environment and normally without interference. In our case, user researchers spent a day at the SPPA offices, watching staff interact with our system and following up with questions to ensure they understood the full context of the user’s experience.

Our users are at the heart of everything we do, and it’s essential to build a system that truly meets their needs. This research helped us assess what works well for our users and where further developments and enhancements can unlock greater efficiencies. We’ve gathered a wealth of insights, which we’re now prioritising into our roadmap, with improvements to the platform coming soon.

In addition to internal reflections and user research, ScotPayments has also been independently reviewed through the Scottish Government’s Technology Assurance Framework (TAF). As a major digital project, ScotPayments is subject to this framework to ensure robust governance and successful delivery. Last year, during Private Beta, we underwent a review to assess our readiness to scale the service and onboard SPPA (a partner with high volumes and values of payments). More recently, we completed a TAF Delivery Gate assessment as we prepare to onboard more partners. These reviews, conducted by the Digital Assurance Office, provide evidence-based recommendations that will help shape the next phase of the ScotPayments programme.

What’s Next?

Building on all of the above, the ScotPayments team is already preparing to onboard our next partners and is actively developing a technical roadmap that includes new features and enhancements.

We’re also working closely with SPPA to document and realise the benefits of moving to a shared platform like ScotPayments.

Want to Learn More?

Visit ScotPayments – gov.scot or contact us at ScotPayments@gov.scot to find out more about the service and how it could support your organisation.

Tags: digital public services, digital sector, digital transformation, platforms, ScotPayments, Scottish Public Pensions Agency (SPPA)

Comments