Purpose

To approve onboarding onto National Parking Platform

Decision

Joining the National Parking Platform (NPP)
1. Executive Summary
This report seeks approval for the Council to join the National Parking Platform (NPP)—a national integrated digital system - connecting existing systems supported by the Department for Transport (DfT). The NPP provides an open-market system enabling motorists to pay for parking using their preferred parking app, improving customer choice and reducing dependency on a single provider. The current Service Providers on the NPP are – APCOA Connect, AppyWay, Caura, RingGo, JustPark and PayByPhone.
Joining the NPP will modernise the Council’s parking services, helping to reduce operational costs, improve access to data and enhance the overall customer experience. It removes many of the upfront burdens, including the need to run a full procurement process and undertake separate GDPR controller and processor checks. It also supports the Council’s cashless parking offer by offering drivers a wide choice of approved payment providers.
2. Background & Purpose
Motorists currently face limited or fragmented options when paying for parking, often needing to download multiple apps depending on the location. The National Parking Platform solves this by acting as a hub between operators (Councils) and service providers (apps), enabling motorists to use any participating app in any NPP-enabled area.
The platform is based on open data standards, APDS. The Alliance for Parking Data Standards (APDS) is an international not-for-profit body that develops global data standards for the parking sector. Its standards create a common, consistent language for parking data — covering areas such as tariffs, payments, transactions, enforcement, permits and occupancy. By standardising data definitions and formats, APDS enables different systems, service providers and local authorities to integrate more easily, improve interoperability and support innovation across the parking ecosystem.
This provides:
• A simplified customer journey
• Removal of single-provider dependency
• Standardised payment and data flows
• Full visibility of sessions for enforcement and compliance teams
3. Recommendations
It is recommended that the Council:
1. Approves joining the National Parking Platform as an early adopter / member authority.
2. Approves entering into agreements with the NPP operator and participating parking app providers as part of the scheme, subject to the Council’s standard governance and review processes.
3. Approves that users selecting a cashless parking app will pay the fixed convenience fee set by their chosen provider, in accordance with the NPP framework.
4. Delegates authority to the relevant Director and Cabinet Member to finalise all contractual and technical arrangements.
4. Benefits of Joining the NPP
4.1 Benefits to Motorists
• Ability to use one app anywhere the NPP is live across council borders and the country
• More convenience and reduced friction
• No need for multiple app accounts or phone calls
4.2 Benefits to the Council
• Real-time parking activity data improving enforcement and traffic management
• Reduced reliance on aging Pay & Display infrastructure
• Reduced fraud risk
• A modern digital parking ecosystem aligned with national strategy
4.3 Financial Benefits
• A rules-based, transparent interim commission structure ensuring value for money
• Council no longer required to absorb convenience fees, freeing up revenue
• Potential further savings from reduced machine maintenance and cash collection
5. Options Considered
Option 1 – Do nothing (Not recommended)
• Council would fall behind national modernisation
• Motorists continue to face limited app choice
• Lost opportunity to influence platform development
Option 2 – Procure/renew a single cashless provider (Not recommended)
• Does not offer customer choice
• Inconsistent with emerging DfT standards
Option 3 – Join the NPP (Recommended)
• Nationally aligned, future-proof solution
• Cost efficiencies and improved data
• Better customer experience
• Easy onboarding of future app providers
6. Financial Implications
6.1 New Interim Commission Methodology (2025–26)
As of October 2025, the NPP Board approved an Interim Commission Methodology to replace the previous flat 2.5% commission rate. This interim approach will remain in place until the first independent Commission Report is published (due by September 2026).
Thereafter, the Commission Rate will be determined by an independent expert panel and reviewed on a three-year cycle. Confirmation of the applicable rate will be issued each October for implementation from the following 1 April, providing transparency and financial certainty for budget planning.
The methodology is rules-based, transparent, and cost-reflective, taking into account:
• Annualised Parking Fees (APF)
• Average Transaction Value (ATV)
• ATV-dependent modifiers
• Set within a range of 1.50% to 2.50%
6.2 Base Commission Rates (by Annualised Parking Fees)
Band Annualised Parking Fees Base Rate
A = £1.0m 2.50%
B £1.0m–£3.0m 2.30%
C £3.0m–£6.5m 2.10%
D £6.5m–£10.0m 2.00%
E > £10.0m 1.90%
6.3 ATV Modifiers
ATV Range (£) Modifier
= 12.50 –0.40%
7.50–12.49 –0.20%
3.00–7.49 –0.10%
= 2.99 N/A
Final commission rate is clamped between 1.50% and 2.50%.
6.4 Summary of Financial Impact for the Council
• The Council’s commission payments will adjust in line with its scale and transaction patterns, rather than a flat fee.
• Larger Operators or those with higher ATVs will generally benefit from lower commission rates.
• Quarterly re-tiering is applied automatically in line with the agreed methodology, with any movement limited to a maximum of ±25 basis points in either direction per cycle.
• Local finance section’s feedback confirms a notional cost saving.
7. Legal & Governance Considerations
• NPP is a publicly owned platform, originally developed under DfT oversight.
• The Council enters into standard participation agreements with each approved parking app provider; however, motorists choose which app they wish to use. This means the Council is not awarding an exclusive contract to a single supplier, creating an open and competitive marketplace. As a result, procurement complexity is significantly reduced. The Council retains full control over parking tariffs, enforcement policy and overall parking strategy, with the NPP providing the technical integration layer only.
• Councils may enforce relevant NPP platform terms under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999.
8. Equality & Accessibility
• P&D machines remain available for customers who cannot or prefer not to use apps.
• Motorists benefit from reduced need to walk long distances to machines.
• Equality Impact considerations include clear signage, accessibility of digital payment options, and user choice. Signage costs associated with additional service provider logos are met by the relevant service providers, helping to minimise introduction costs for the Council.
9. Risks and Mitigations
Risk Mitigation
Customer confusion over new charges Clear comms & signage
Platform technical issues (pilot stage) Early adopter onboarding & support
Reduced machine usage impacts revenue Data monitoring and usage pattern analysis
Accessibility concerns Maintain multi-channel payment options

10. Conclusion
Joining the National Parking Platform positions the Council at the forefront of modern, digital parking services, providing choice to motorists, improving operational efficiency, and aligning with national objectives. The financial, operational, and customer benefits strongly support adoption.
National Context: Central government is recommending take-up. Mention of NPP is made in the DfT’s April 2026 Better Connected: A Strategy for Integrated Transport as part of the priority for simplifying payments in wider transport context.
Local Context: Peterborough City Council and Lincolnshire County Council are with NPP. Rutland Parking Management has been following Peterborough’s journey and had intended on on-board at a similar time but it was decided to keep a watching brief until NPP was fully formulated. Lincolnshire, due to two-tier status, is only operating NPP in a small area; South Kesteven is only operating with RingGo. North Northamptonshire Unitary Authority has not progressed with NPP yet.
Local Government Re-organisation Context: It appears that with contact with parking leads at district and county level, they have not progressed with NPP case yet. However when the new shadow authority is constituted, by joining NPP, Rutland is placed well to influence parking operations by merit of knowledge of the on-boarding journey and as it will be easier for the old constituent authorities to on-board – and this may cause economy of scale benefits for the newly vested authority at a later date.
Existing contractual context: current RingGo contract expires 31st August 2026 and NPP require around 12 weeks to implement Rutland’s onboarding. Therefore timely approval is requested. RCC Finance have compared NPP projected income favourably with RingGo historic income. RCC Commissioning acknowledge the procurement exemption.

Alternative options considered

Procuring single pay-by-mobile supplier / do nothing (not recommended)