RESIDENTS in York have been provided with a new way to pay their council tax bills by using a smartphone or tablet.

City of York Council has worked with high-street bank Barclays to set up a system where the free Barclays Pingit app can be used to make payments as long as residents have their bill, a mobile phone or other device and a UK bank account.

The council is the first in the country to offer the service, which will see a quick response code appear on all 2014/15 council tax bills, and when this is scanned with the app, an instant payment will be made.

Tracy Muniz Ryan, Barclays’ relationship director for Yorkshire, said residents do not need to bank with Barclays. and the scheme would “even more payment options”.

The app can be downloaded for free from the Apple store, Android Market and BlackBerry App World.