Upcoming bank holidays make planning business payments essential

As we head towards a number of bank holidays during spring and early summer 2022, Pay.UK, which runs the Bacs Direct Credit and Direct Debit payment systems, is reminding businesses to plan ahead to avoid missing, or delaying, important payments.

With bank holidays being non-processing days, businesses need to factor these into their scheduling, while organisations are also being encouraged to take advantage of the ability to submit payment files up to 30 days in advance.

Next month sees bank holidays on both Good Friday (15 April) and Easter Monday (18 April), meaning that if payments are scheduled to credit or debit accounts on the last working day before Good Friday, then the latest date for submitting payment files is Tuesday 12 April.

Similarly, if payments are due on the first working day following Easter Monday, then the latest submission date for payment files is Wednesday 13 April.

Looking further ahead, businesses will also need to make provision if payments fall around the early May bank holiday (Monday 2 May), or the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee long bank holiday weekend (Thursday 2 and Friday 3 June).

To help businesses plan in advance, Pay.UK has produced a handy 2022 processing calendar, which lists all the non-processing dates for the rest of the year, together with latest payment submission dates .

In addition, Pay.UK has created some useful bank holiday payment processing tips:

• Make sure you’ve downloaded our handy processing calendar and share with colleagues who may benefit from a quick reference guide
• Plan ahead and where possible submit files early – remember that you can do this up to 30 days in advance
• Check that files have been submitted with the correct processing dates, taking into account additional bank holidays, and ensure your software reflects Bacs non-processing days
• Consider asking another member of staff to help in reviewing submission dates
• As many workplaces are still operating with staff based remotely, now might be a good time to review if all those who may need to submit payment files have the equipment and access they require
• Remember that you can get more information from bacs.co.uk and www.wearepay.uk.