Bacs dates over Christmas and the future of the UK payments infrastructure
25 November 2019
BACS has circulated an extremely useful table which shows the dates for processing BACS over Christmas and New Year 2019.
While the additional bank holidays are extremely welcome, payroll departments need to be mindful of when they are submitting payrolls to ensure staff are paid on time this December and in January 2020. The below table was issued to assist with the task of timely payments and is a great help.
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As previously reported, it is also essential that, when submitting the Full Payment Submission (FPS) over the Christmas period, payrollers include the contractual pay date and not the date that they are actually paying their staff, as many businesses opt to pay their staff early at this time of year. The importance of this lies in the fact that, inputting the earlier pay date could have repercussions for staff who receive Universal Credit payments, as it may skew the earnings reflected in the relevant assessment period. This may result in employees receiving lower benefit payments or even no payment at all in relation to Universal Credit.
The future of payments policy and regulation
Looking ahead you may be aware that there is a significant amount of development work ongoing in relation to the UK Payments infrastructure, which over the last year has seen the launch of Pay.UK which incorporates BACS, Faster Payments and Cheque and Credit Clearing company.
If these developments are of interest to you the Westminster Business Forum are holding a policy conference on Payments policy and regulation - infrastructure, innovation and end-user priorities.
The agenda will look at:
- Regulation of payment systems following the market review into the supply of card-acquiring services
- Access to infrastructure, and competition issues
- Ensuring the stability of the UK’s payment infrastructure and priorities for the Real-Time Gross Settlement renewal
- The future for the UK’s ATM network
- Innovation, consumer access to services, and preventing fraud
- Next steps for the establishment of the New Payments Architecture.
Regulation and the PSR’s Market Review into the supply of card-acquiring services
The seminar is timed to follow the publication of the PSR’s interim findings of its market review into the supply of card-acquiring service.
Sessions will also look at the potential impact of Brexit on UK payments regulation.
It comes with concerns that the existing regulatory framework may not be prepared to take on the responsibilities previously administered by the European Commission on payments regulation.
The establishment of the New Payments Architecture and the renewal of the Real-Time Gross Settlement
The seminar comes with:
- Pay.UK continuing the ongoing implementation of the merger of Bacs, the Faster Payment System and the Cheque and Credit Clearing Company, which is expected to be finalised by 2024 as part of the New Payments Architecture (NPA); and
- The Bank of England renewing the Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS), aimed at increasing security, resilience, and access
Delegates will assess the progress made in establishing the New Payments Architecture as:
- Pay.UK is expected to be undergoing contract negotiations, securing funding, establishing the project organisation, and IT and operational environment and
- The Bank of England undergoes its procurement phase for the build
Innovation, access to payment services and the evolving landscape for UK payments
The seminar also comes at a time of significant change for the industry, consumers and businesses in light of the declining use of cash and the increasing role of digital payments and will hear about work being delivered as the Government commits to establishing a new working group which will aim to support access to cash and ensure that all current denominations remain in circulation, following its Cash and digital payments in the new economy consultation.
Preventing payment fraud
The seminar follows the introduction of the Stronger Customer Authentication (SCA) as part of the Payment Services (PSD 2) which is designed to reduce fraud and requires online payments to have a two-step authentication process.
The conference will consider the impact of SCA on online payments as the FCA phases in its enforcement action, following concerns that some e-commerce firms were not ready for the deadline and the impact that SCA is expected to have on the online payments process.
Delegates will also look at what else needs to be done to tackle fraud, including push payment fraud, such as Confirmation of Payee and increasing consumer awareness of scams, while also ensuring that payment markets function efficiently.
Details of this event, which is being held on 23 January 2020 in London, are available from Westminster Business Forum.
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