Businesses that use Bacs are being urged to plan in advance of the Christmas and new year holidays to avoid missing or delaying payments.
Bacs Payment Schemes, which operates Direct Debit and Bacs Direct Credit in the UK, has reminded employers about the non-processing days over the festive period to ensure staff and suppliers are paid on time.
Mike Hutchinson from Bacs said: ‘Our message to businesses large and small is to start preparing now to avoid any unnecessary delays to important payments.’
Many organisations pay their staff early in December. Bacs has advised that if an employer wants to pay staff before Christmas, then the payment process must begin on Wednesday 20th December 2017 to ensure that wages reach employees’ bank accounts by Friday 22nd December.
Likewise, for those seeking to pay staff before the new year, the process must begin on Wednesday 27th December at the latest.
To help businesses with their planning, Bacs publishes downloadable processing calendars, including all critical payment dates; the new one for 2018 has now been released, while the existing 2017 version is still available.