What is a Bacs bureau?
The Bacs Approved Bureau Scheme is for computer bureaux that submit transactions through the Bacs service on behalf of third party organisations.
Bacs inspectors review the appropriateness of all bureaux to ensure they all meet the standards set by the Scheme.
Over half of the organisations using the Bacs service make their Direct Debit and Bacs Direct Credit payment submissions through our approved bureaux rather than submitting directly to Bacs.
Organisations choose to use a Bacs approved bureau for a number of reasons:
- They may only make a small number of Direct Debit and Bacs Direct Credit transactions each month
- They might be unable to fulfil all of the criteria to be able to make direct submissions themselves to Bacs
- They may be a newly established organisation
- They might be a small to medium sized enterprise (SME) with a relatively low turnover.
But, whatever the reason, with approximately 770 Bacs approved bureaux throughout the UK accessibility to Direct Debit and Bacs Direct Credit services is greater than ever before.
Tariff and fees
The Bacs approved bureau tariff was last updated in 2015 and following Bacs Payment Services Limited becoming part of Pay.UK, a review was undertaken. As a result, the charges now reflect an appropriate volume and service based cost to the service.
A copy of these guidelines can be found in the Information Hub below or to the right of your screen.
Note: Bureau invoices will be sent out on the 6th April 2020 in the name of Bacs and they will be available on the Bureau portal from this date.
If there are any questions, please contact us.