Bacs update nears deadline

Last minute rush for switchover

Thousands of IT directors across the UK have left obligatory Bacs system updates to the last minute.

From 1 January access to the old Bacs system will be cut off, potentially disrupting company payments such as payroll.

At the end of November, 10,000 firms had not completed the work, although up to 5,000 are expected to have made the necessary changes by the end of this month.
‘The first two weeks of December were the biggest weeks we’ve had,’ said Bacstel-IP marketing manager Mike Hutchinson.

‘Software suppliers have been rushed off their feet. Some are offering night-time and weekend installations to help firms get this done in time.’

All 110,000 UK firms that use Bacs for their payments are required to switch to the new Bacstel-IP system if they wish to continue using the service.

‘We are pleased with the numbers of firms that have completed the migration, but we are not being complacent,’ said Hutchinson.

He says 95 per cent of the firms yet to make the transition are small businesses and advises those at risk of not meeting the deadline to work with their banks to find a workaround for January.

‘Some banks will offer their customers a solution for a month. Alternatively, firms can consider using a payment bureau, or possibly add their January payroll to their December Bacs submission, which we can queue for them until then,’ he said.

The switchover to Bacstel-IP will mark the end of a two-and-a-half year project for payment processing company Voca.

The organisation recently went live with the next major phase of a £100m initiative to renew its entire technology platform (Computing, 22 September).