North Yorkshire Council improves staff financial wellbeing – without increasing admin

In 2023, following a Local Government Reorganisation, North Yorkshire County Council merged with seven district councils to form a single entity: North Yorkshire Council, creating the largest council in England by area. The Payroll Service process payroll for around 40,000 employees spread across 47 payrolls.

The reorganisation brought multiple challenges in terms of how staff were paid. “Traditionally, we’ve always paid employees monthly,” says Will Bunn, North Yorkshire Council’s Commercial Payroll and Systems Manager. “That was a shift for some employees, such as those in lower-paid, manual roles, who had been used to getting paid weekly.”

At the same time, frontline staff like social workers were regularly traveling long distances and paying upfront for fuel and other expenses. They then had to wait until the end of the month to be reimbursed. “That delay became a real pain point, especially given the tough financial climate,” Will says. “We wanted to do more to help.”

Earned wage access: The missing piece of the wellbeing puzzle

North Yorkshire Council already offered its employees a strong financial wellbeing package, including a salary sacrifice scheme, retailer discounts and green lease cars. However, it had never offered earned wage access.

The council’s first instinct was to build an in-house solution. However, it quickly realised that this would be inefficient. “We were looking at how we could build something ourselves, but that would’ve been very manual,” Will explains. “Requests into the payroll inbox, checking pay manually, calculating what someone could have, putting it through BACS… it would’ve been a huge drain on resources.”

That’s when MyView PayNow entered the conversation – Zellis’s financial wellbeing solution that, as well as providing savings and budgeting support, offers employees access to a portion of their wages before payday.

With MyView PayNow, employees initiate everything themselves through an app meaning there’s no additional work for payroll teams. “Self-service has been a priority for us for years, and this fit perfectly with that vision,” Will says.

Getting internal buy-in

Having decided on a solution, Will and his team took their proposal to the executive team. But some senior stakeholders were sceptical.

“There was concern around reputational risk – were we enabling people to get into debt by letting them access pay early?” Will says.

But once the wider benefits of MyView PayNow were explained – including responsible withdrawal limits, savings features and built-in education tools such as a benefits checker – the conversation shifted.

“We explained that this isn’t just about accessing money early or avoiding debt,” Will explains. “It’s about giving employees better visibility and control over their finances and helping them to build financial resilience. That’s what helped us get full buy-in.”

Easy implementation

Thanks to North Yorkshire Council’s existing Zellis technology stack, implementing MyView PayNow was straightforward.

“The rollout was really smooth, and took hours, not days,” says James Boak, the council’s Technical Service Owner. “The integration was minimal – we worked with Zellis technical teams to set up secure API connections. Their project manager was great, and we had regular check-ins. We had a few teething issues with data setup, but these were resolved before we went live.”

Once live, the council’s internal communications team drove awareness through intranet articles and targeted emails.

“The messaging was familiar and simple – it tied in with our existing MyView app, which really helped,” James says. “We also had support from our chief executive, who promoted it on his blog.”

Employees could access MyView PayNow directly through the MyView app via a simple prompt. A corporate limit of £1,000 per person per month was set, with individuals able to customise their own limits.

Fast and responsible uptake

Launched in December – strategically timed to support employees over Christmas – MyView PayNow immediately filled a key gap.

“Former district and borough staff were used to being paid before Christmas, while we’ve always paid at month-end,” Will says. “Giving them access to earnings ahead of the holiday helped bridge that gap.”

Initial uptake reflected need: the average drawdown in December was £102. But over the following months, that number has steadily reduced.

“It’s dropped every month: £80, £73, £72, £66 and £53 through May,” Will says. “That tells us people are using it responsibly. A £53 drawdown won’t lead to debt – it’s for emergencies, like a flat tyre, rather than luxuries.”

Uptake has been strong: over 2,100 employees have registered – around 20% of the 10,500 eligible – in just over four months.

Building financial freedom

Will is delighted with what the council has achieved so far. “First, we’re giving employees flexibility to access earned wages when they need it,” he says. “As well as giving employees greater control over their finances, this has also removed the awkwardness of asking for money. With PayNow, people can access funds themselves without going through someone else. It reduced stigma and made the process easier.”

But perhaps the biggest surprise has been the popularity of the savings features. “It’s not just about early access to wages – many are registering just to use the savings features,” Will says. “Average savings deposits have risen from £21 to over £38. That’s exactly what we hoped: less borrowing, more saving.”

Building long-term value

MyView PayNow is not only benefiting employees, but also the organisation.

“Our recruitment teams were pushing for enhanced employee packages,” James says. “Recruitment is costly, and being able to demonstrate a strong benefits package helps with both attracting and retaining staff.”

With a successful rollout behind it, the council is now looking to the future. It is currently exploring MyView PayNow’s loans feature and is keen to get even more from its implementation.

“We think we can unlock more possibilities and scale our services further, without increasing overheads,” Will explains. “But overall, we’re very happy with the results so far – especially the number of people saving. It’s been a real win.”

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