Bacs Summer processing tips

Were you planning to go away this summer? Somewhere hot and exotic? But wait… you have Bacs Processing that needs to be covered, wages to be paid and collections to be taken!

Firstly, relax…

Book the holiday you were planning and pay close attention to these helpful tips from Bacs to ensure that you are fully covered so you can go away and enjoy your holiday.

1. It is vital your Bacs reports are collected and actioned regularly, either by yourself or your bureau on your behalf. Have you made sure you, an agency or someone in the team is available to action these during the holiday period? Find out more information on these reports and what requires actioning.
2. Are there submissions to be made during the holiday period and is someone scheduled to make these?
3. Have you checked the Bacs processing calendar to ensure that important processing dates don’t get missed over holiday periods?
4. If your holiday falls around pay day, ensure that salaries and wages will be paid automatically using Bacs Direct Credit.

Now let’s look at some of the holiday tips:

• Check if your company’s utility bills are due for payment while you’re away and avoid late payment surcharges by setting up Direct Debit payments now.
• Make sure that cash keeps flowing while you are away by removing your reliance on other people to pay in cheques: contact key customers now and ask them to pay via Bacs Direct Credit – the funds will be cleared straight into your account.
• Do key senior colleagues have the relevant bank account details and contacts to enable them to pick up urgent queries?
• To ensure colleagues can contact you in a crisis check that your mobile phone service covers your destination, and if calls are likely to be lengthy invest in an international phone card.
• Make arrangements for trusted colleagues to open and handle your mail: unopened bills can still incur interest!
• Check with key staff to see if they will have requirements for petty cash while you’re away and make arrangements to meet these
• Time is precious in the pre-holiday period, reduce the time spent going to the bank by seeing if you can bank online.
• Late payment legislation gives businesses a statutory right to claim interest for the late payment of commercial debt. Avoid unnecessary charges and damaged supplier relationships: set up automated payments now, you can send payments to Bacs up to 30 days before the payment date and they’ll warehouse them, releasing them on the due date.
• Apply best practice at home: have you checked if household or credit card bills will be due while you’re away? Payment of these can be set up by Direct Debit too.

Bacs released these tips to ensure you can have peace of mind over the summer to ensure your processing isn’t left behind so you can start enjoying your holiday!