Lincolnshire County Council presides over the 4th largest administrative county in England by area, covering over two thousand square miles in total.

Previously, the council's cards were produced by an external supplier, who was not a specialist card manufacturer. The cards were not secure, did not carry a photograph and were not always carried by the cardholder, making verification of council employees difficult. This made it unclear who was a council employee within the council buildings and who was a member of the public, leading to worries about the security of the buildings and their contents.

Peter Barton, Head of Web and Information Governance acted as the coordinator of the card production project having identified this as an ideal opportunity to create a centralised staff database, enabling other facilities such as a staff intranet to be improved. Peter and his team did all of the work outside their normal hours, regularly working at weekends and late into the evening to set up the project.

The team began by evaluating the options available to them for the production of cards, with the first question asked being "what do I do, what is my job?" Knowing his team did not have the time, experience or equipment to produce cards themselves, the decision to outsource the job was an obvious one. Peter contacted Lincolnshire Fire Service, who recommended Payne Security as a card manufacturer, having used their services previously. Quotes for the new cards were requested from the existing supplier and Payne Security, with Payne Security's being the most competitive, leading to them being awarded supply of the cards.

Payne Security created a fresh new design for the council's cards, using three different colour schemes within a common design template, allowing clear differentiation between office staff (green) social workers (red) and councillors (purple). This gives an immediate benefit, making it easy to identify colleagues' job role, allowing them to discuss specific cases and projects without fear of compromising personal information.

By employing a single photographer to produce all of the staff photographs, the team was able to specify a standard size and look for the photograph, meaning that each card was consistent in its look and each member of staff easily identifiable.

Payne Security's Production Control System (PCS) provides an additional benefit, due to the automatic photo cropping element of the card production process. Payne Security is able to return the cropped photos for use on Lincolnshire CC's staff intranet, meaning the photo on the card is a match for the one on the intranet, aiding identification and security.

Payne Security produces a high quality card, with a clear photograph of the cardholder included, to ensure the holder can be quickly and easily verified. Digitally printed cards from Payne Security are much more secure than those previously supplied, with personal details protected underneath a laminate layer, meaning the picture is not raised above the surface of the card and the personal details cannot be altered without obvious tampering.

Added Functionality
One of the previous problems encountered by the council was for members of the public to verify who had been cleared by the Criminal Records Bureau and therefore approved to work with children. By adding the CRB checked logo to the cards of those who are approved, people are able to see this and can be immediately assured that the employee is able to work with children.

Braille was also added to the card to allow blind and partially sighted members of the public to verify the cardholder as a council employee. Payne Security is one of the few card manufacturers able to add Braille messages to the card, helping organisations meet the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act and Disability Equality Duty (2006).

Experience with the latest smart card technologies was another key factor in the council's decision to select Payne Security as its card supplier. The council is currently evaluating use of its cards for access control and as a way of controlling access to IT equipment and will look to work with Payne Security to build in this functionality.

So far, Payne Security has supplied the council with approximately 5500 cards, with the majority of council employees now having a new card. Peter and his team have been extremely happy with the process, adding that Payne Security "did everything we wanted and did it right" with a customer service department who are "very helpful". Peter describes the process to upload data to the FTP site as "effortless".

With the need to deliver best value across local authorities as budgets tighten, many are looking to encourage more remote working for staff. With employees likely to be using more "touch-down points" and "hotdesking", rather than being based in a local office all of the time, there is a greater need to allow them to move between offices without hindrance.

Using Payne Security's ID card production service to ensure staff are all clearly badged will enable council employees to work across different offices where they are not necessarily well known.

Download The Lincolnshire County Council Case Study