French Duncan
How French Duncan moved 350+ critical HMRC letters online
French Duncan is a leading chartered accountancy firm with more than 100 years of experience supporting modern, fast-moving businesses across a wide range of sectors. Its restructuring and debt advisory team sends more than 350 time-critical HMRC letters every month, but the process relied on several employees printing, stuffing and franking post by hand. By moving to Postworks , French Duncan now sends important client communications in a few clicks, reducing costs, relieving pressure on staff and reclaiming valuable admin time.
The Challenge
Manual franking was putting critical HMRC deadlines at risk
French Duncan’s restructuring and debt advisory team sends more than 350 HMRC letters every month. These are time-critical communications where delays can lead to unhappy clients, complicated audits or, in the worst case, a revoked licence. Missing a deadline is simply not an option.
Printing, stuffing, franking and posting had become an operation of its own. Up to five admin employees were pulled away from higher-value work to manage the franking machine, order supplies and meet postal cut-offs.
Costs were rising, teams were under pressure and a process intended to protect the firm’s reputation was creating unnecessary risk.
A closer look at the results
350+ critical letters
handled online
High-volume HMRC communications are now sent digitally
5 admin employees freed from postroom
Significant postal and processing savings
Removing manual workflows and franking contracts reduced costs
The Turning Point
Rising postal pressure made the manual process unsustainable
French Duncan’s admin teams were doing everything possible to protect clients and meet HMRC deadlines. The cost was mounting stress, repetitive work and long sessions at the franking machine. A process designed to safeguard licences and audit trails was placing unnecessary pressure on the people responsible for delivering it.
Assistant Manager Craig Fisher began looking for a faster, simpler alternative and found Postworks. Postworks allowed the firm to send important letters on time in a few clicks, remove manual steps and reduce the hidden costs of traditional franking.
Even self-described technophobes found the system straightforward, turning Postworks into what Craig now sees as an employee benefit in disguise.
“Postworks gave us an immediate solution that solved every problem and ticked every box. Employee happiness is paramount at French Duncan, and Postworks has genuinely reduced stress around postal deadlines.”
Craig FisherAssistant Manager, French Duncan
The Outcome
Critical post now takes minutes instead of hours
By moving HMRC letters to Postworks, French Duncan has replaced a stressful, error-prone routine with a faster, more reliable digital workflow that removes manual franking steps, reduces the risk of delays and ensures critical communications are sent on time every time.
Key Results
⏱️ More time for higher-value work
Admin teams spend less time processing post and more time supporting clients, managers and partners.
💻 Simple for less confident technology users
Employees can log in, upload documents and send important letters without complicated training or processes.
😀 Happier, less stressed employees
Removing postal bottlenecks and looming cut-offs has reduced pressure and improved morale across the team.
💷 Greater control over postal costs
Digital workflows reveal and remove hidden franking charges, machine costs and wasted administrative effort.
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