Don’t get left out in the cold this Christmas
14 December 2016
Bacs is urging businesses to plan ahead for festive payments.
Businesses must plan in advance to avoid missing or delaying vital holiday payments to staff and suppliers over the Christmas and New Year holidays, according to Bacs Payment Schemes Limited (Bacs), the company behind Direct Debit and Bacs Direct Credit in the UK.
This year, Christmas Eve falls on a Saturday – a non-processing day - while both Christmas Day and Boxing Day are bank holidays. This year Tuesday 27 December is also a bank holiday, so the first post-Christmas working day when payments will be processed will be Wednesday 28 December.
So, if staff and suppliers are to be paid by Bacs Direct Credit, or payments are set to be collected by Direct Debit, on Wednesday 28 December, then the payment process must begin no later than Thursday 22 December. For payments due to credit / debit accounts on Thursday 29 December then payment files must be submitted no later than Friday 23 December.
It’s a similar situation over New Year, with New Year’s Day falling on a Sunday which means that Monday will be taken as the bank holiday - and again will be a non-processing day. This means that for payments due to be debited / credited on Tuesday 3 January the processing cycle must be started on Thursday 29 December at the latest.
Further information can be found on the Bacs processing calendar.