2008

Recent figures from Britain's General Union (GMB) suggest that £745 million of council tax payments went uncollected last year. While this number is a reduction on the previous year's £760 million, and collection rates are at their highest level ever (97%), the pressure is still on local authorities to make further improvements and cut the number of unpaid bills.

Bacs research shows financial slow down is hitting small business and exacerbating late payment problem

The new online Direct Debit Challenge League created by Bacs has hit the back of the net with local authorities across the UK

A new report by Carbon Footprint Limited has found that the carbon emissionsgenerated by an ongoing Direct Debit are around 65 times smaller than that of a regular cheque payment - demonstrating that automated payments are the greener, as well as the more convenient, way for businesses in Great Britain to pay.

Compare Manchester United's capacity home crowd to Accrington Stanley's much more modest number of seats - that's the difference between the environmental impact of a cheque and that of a Direct Debit.

Colchester Borough Council has significantly improved the effectiveness of its Direct Debit marketing campaigns, thanks to the new data mining solution developed by Bacs Payment Schemes Limited (Bacs) and Experian

Bacs has revamped its established Local Authority Awards scheme and created a brand new online initiative for 2008. The Direct Debit Challenge League draws on the heritage of fantasy football style competitions and is a free to use, exciting reality league, based on real data.

Bacs is celebrating its 40th anniversary and the delivery of over 68 billion automated transactions for UK consumers and businesses since the company was first established in 1968.

Latest figures released in celebration of the 40th anniversary of Bacs reveal that GB adults have been tightening their belts over the past year. That’s just one finding from a brand new report which looks at the financial lives of Britons over the last four decades.

A staggering 83 per cent of small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Britain are not exercising their right to charge interest on late payments owed to them by other organisations – despite the fact that legislation to this effect was introduced almost a decade ago.

To encourage efficient practices among Direct Debit originators, Bacs Payment Schemes Limited (Bacs) is offering local authorities a free health check for the Direct Debit schemes they run, specifically looking at ‘unpaids’ data.

Older may mean wiser but certainly not wealthier according to new research released by Bacs

Regional differences apparent in nation's fight against overdue invoices. A massive £18.6 billion is the figure put on outstanding payments owed to Britain's small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) - a leap of £2.6 billion in the last year.