Bacs Payment System

The Bacs Payment System processes Bacs Direct Credits, widely used to pay salaries, benefits, dividends and supplier payments directly into bank accounts, and Direct Debits, which automate the collection of regular payments, the preferred payment method for many UK bill payments.

Over 160 billion transactions have been debited or credited to British bank accounts via Bacs since its inception in 1968 and, in 2022 alone, the payment system facilitated 6.7 billion payments, at a value of £5.3 trillion.

This included 4.7 billion Direct Debits, representing a new annual high for the payment method which celebrated its half century in 2020.

With over 85 billion transactions made this way over the last five decades, today the popular payment method is used for a wide range of outgoings, spanning mobile phone bills, broadband bundles, dual fuel, water, council bills, subscriptions, half a dozen different types of insurance, and even holidays.

On its busiest day, at the end of November 2019, the number of transactions processed by the Bacs system reached a new high of 124,000,000, while a new monthly record was set in December 2020 when over 616 million payments were processed, valuing £450 billion.

Further information

Skip to content