PCI-Compliant Payment Platforms

PCI-Compliant Payment Platforms. From strategy to delivery - we build, secure, and scale data platforms where compliance is not an afterthought.

Take payments online without the compliance headache

If your organisation needs to accept payments through its website, you already know the stakes are high. Card data breaches damage reputations and invite regulatory action. PCI compliance paperwork is confusing. And payment systems that feel clunky or unreliable drive customers away before they complete a transaction.

We build payment platforms that solve all three problems at once. Your customers get a smooth, modern checkout. Your finance team gets automated reconciliation. And your organisation stays fully PCI DSS compliant without ever touching raw card data.

How we approach payment integration

Every organisation has different payment needs. A college selling course places is not the same as a national park accepting donations, or a government body processing registration fees. We start by understanding what you need to collect payments for, then design a solution around that.

Our approach follows a consistent pattern regardless of your payment gateway or CMS platform:

Hosted payment fields, not self-hosted card forms. We embed the payment gateway’s own secure fields directly into your website pages. This means card numbers, expiry dates, and CVV codes are captured by the gateway itself. Your website never sees, stores, or processes raw card data. This keeps you at the simplest level of PCI compliance (SAQ A) and eliminates the burden of managing sensitive payment information in-house.

Embedded checkout, not redirects. We build payment flows directly into your product, booking, or donation pages. Your customers stay on your website throughout the process. No confusing redirects to third-party pages. No broken journeys. This reduces cart abandonment and keeps your branding consistent from browsing through to payment confirmation.

Automated everything after the transaction. Once a payment goes through, the system handles the rest. Confirmation emails with receipts go out within seconds. Transaction data flows into your finance systems in compatible formats. Daily reconciliation reports are generated automatically. Your team spends time on the work that matters, not chasing spreadsheets.

Payment gateways we work with

We are gateway-agnostic. We select and integrate the right payment provider based on your organisation’s needs, existing contracts, and technical requirements.


Gateway	Typical use	What we deliver
Stripe	Course bookings, e-commerce, subscriptions, instalment plans	Embedded checkout with hosted fields, Apple Pay, Google Pay, bank transfers, subscription billing with retry logic
Sage Pay (Opayo)	Donations, event bookings, planning fees, public sector payments	Server integration with hosted payment fields, Gift Aid capture, recurring donation support
WorldPay	Event registrations, grant processing, government payments	Direct gateway integration with automated confirmation workflows
Shopify	Product commerce, merchandise, ticketed experiences	Embedded Buy Button SDK or hosted checkout with inventory sync

We also connect payment systems to back-office platforms such as CRMs, student record systems, and bespoke finance systems, so payment data flows where it needs to without manual re-entry.

What PCI DSS Level 1 compliance actually means for you

PCI DSS is the global standard for protecting card payment data. Level 1 is the highest tier. When we say our payment integrations are PCI DSS Level 1 compliant, here is what that means in practice:

Your website never handles, stores, or transmits raw card data
All payment processing happens through the gateway’s own certified infrastructure
All data is encrypted with AES-256 at rest and TLS 1.3 in transit
Strong Customer Authentication (3D Secure 2.0) protects against fraud and meets UK Payment Services Regulations
Your SAQ A compliance questionnaire stays short and simple

We have maintained this standard across every payment integration we have delivered, with zero payment security incidents.

What we build into every payment platform

Regardless of your sector or payment gateway, every solution we deliver includes:

For your customers:

Multiple payment methods including credit and debit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and bank transfers where supported
Mobile-first checkout with large touch targets, designed for smartphone users
One-click checkout for returning customers (where the gateway supports tokenisation)
Instant confirmation emails with receipts, VAT invoices, and order details
Real-time availability checking for bookings and events, preventing overbooking

For your internal teams:

Order management dashboard showing transactions, payment status, customer details, and fulfilment tracking
Automated daily reconciliation reports in formats compatible with your finance systems
CSV export for offline analysis and audit trails
Abandoned cart recovery emails that automatically capture lost sales opportunities
Subscription and instalment management with automated retry logic for failed payments

For your IT and compliance teams:

PCI DSS Level 1 SAQ A compliance with zero card data stored on your infrastructure
AES-256 encryption at rest, TLS 1.3 encryption in transit
99.9% uptime for checkout with automated failover within 2 minutes
Web Application Firewall protection against SQL injection, cross-site scripting, and DDoS attacks
Immutable audit logs with integrity hashing for forensic accountability
24/7 automated security monitoring with real-time threat detection

Payment solutions by sector

Education

Colleges and universities often need to sell course places, accept deposits, process instalment payments, and manage bursary or discount codes. We build checkout systems that connect directly to student records platforms, automatically updating fee payment status and triggering enrolment confirmations. Split payment handling for deposits and instalments keeps outstanding balance visibility clear for both students and finance teams.

Public sector and government

Local authorities, national parks, and government agencies need payment portals for everything from planning application fees to event bookings and donations. We integrate payment gateways that meet public sector security standards, connect to existing finance systems, and provide the transparency required for Freedom of Information requests and audit compliance.

Charities and membership organisations

Donation platforms with project-specific giving options, suggested amounts, recurring monthly donations, and Gift Aid declaration capture. We build donor management systems that track contact information, giving preferences, and communication consent, helping you build long-term supporter relationships.

E-commerce and product sales

Full shopping cart functionality with product catalogues, save-for-later capability, quantity adjustment, shipping calculations, and age verification where required. We connect your online shop to inventory management and fulfilment systems so stock levels stay accurate across channels.

How payment platforms connect to your wider digital estate

Payments rarely exist in isolation. We design payment infrastructure that plugs into your broader digital ecosystem:

CRM integration so customer purchase data flows into your CRM of choice, triggering automated workflows and lead scoring
Student record systems with bi-directional data sync for enrolments, fee status, and receipts
Email marketing platforms so purchase confirmations trigger segmented follow-up campaigns
Event booking systems with calendar integration, capacity tracking, and automated reminder emails
Finance and accounting systems receiving daily transaction reports in compatible formats for seamless reconciliation

Security credentials that back up our approach

Our hosting and development infrastructure is independently certified to the standards required by UK public sector organisations:

ISO 27001:2022 certified
Cyber Essentials Plus certified
CREST penetration tested annually
UK NCSC compliant
CIS Benchmark v2.0 compliant
ICO registered with no enforcement actions
UK-hosted data centres (London) with geographic redundancy

We have maintained these certifications without gaps, serving public sector, government, and enterprise clients across the UK.

Results from our payment platform work

Across our payment integrations, we consistently deliver:

Significant reduction in admin time through automated confirmation workflows and self-service checkout
Near-total elimination of manual payment processing through end-to-end automation
Zero payment security incidents across all deployments
99.9% checkout uptime with automated failover and offline fallback
Zero manual reconciliation through automated daily finance reports

Ready to talk about payments?

Whether you need a simple donation page or a multi-channel commerce platform, we can help you accept payments securely and compliantly. Get in touch to discuss your requirements.