BACS, or sometimes Bacs, is the Bankers' Automated Clearing Services, though now it is referred to as Bacs Payment Schemes Limited (Bacs). BACS is the organization responsible for clearing and settling UK automated payment methods. For more information, see www.bacs.co.uk.
Customer Bank Account Settings, Employee Direct Deposit, and Third-party Payments
In order to transfer funds to employees and third-party payees, Dayforce sends instructions to BACS, which then transfers the payments from the employer’s bank account to the employees’ bank accounts. For this, the following information must be entered in Payroll Set-up > Bank Accounts:
- Company Account Name
- BACS User number (six-digit number)
- Sort code (six-digit number)
- Account Number (up to eight-digit number)
Administrators can view employee bank account information in the Payroll > Direct Deposit screen of People. This screen displays the Sort Code, Account Number, and Building Society Number, if applicable. Together, the Customer Bank Account Setting information for the employer and the Direct Deposit information for the employee are used when transmitting payroll instructions to BACS for transferring payments.
BACS Validation
Two types BACS of validation are required, an Employee BACS Validation and a Third-party BACS Validation. The employee BACS needs to be validated each pay run by legal entity within the pay group because each legal entity might have different bank accounts.
The third-party BACS needs to be validated each pay run by legal entity within the pay group because each legal entity might have different bank accounts. Validation includes all third-party payees including HMRC, CSA, and Courts.
BACS Information in Payroll > Pay Run Management
The Employee BACS totals for the pay run are currently displayed in Payroll > Pay Run Management in the Preview tab, in the Summary subtab under the legal entity, in Net Pay > Direct Deposit. This allows payroll administrators to view employee payment validations and take necessary action:
Reference Numbers for Early and Late Payments
In the BACS export file, Dayforce uses four extra characters after the 13-character Account Office reference to show the year and the month or quarter your HMRC payment is for. This 17-character Account Office reference is included automatically, and ensures payments are correctly allocated when you make early or late payments outside of the current period.
Third Party Payees
Third party payees are set up in the Payees tab of Payroll Set-up > Third Party Payees. Payroll administrators can use the Combine Employees checkbox in the Payment Method section for EFT payments to configure how payment amounts appear in BACS files sent to third-party payees. When the Combine Employees checkbox is selected, the application adds the total amount due, and shows the total on one payment line. If the checkbox is cleared, payments are broken up by employee contributions and listed on individual payment lines. The Combine Employees checkbox is selected by default.
When the Combine Employees checkbox is cleared, and you want to show individual contribution amounts, you must configure the payee as follows:
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Operating Country | United Kingdom |
| Category | Garnishment or Child Support Payment |
| Payment Method | Electronic Fun Transfer (EFT) |
| Combine Employees | Checkbox not selected |
Additionally, you must add a parameter with the following details to the payee:
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | Enter a valid name |
| Access | Employee |
| Required | Checkbox selected |
| Parameter Type | Payment Identifier |
| Reference Code | Enter a valid reference code |
For more information about creating third party payees, see Third Party Payee Configuration.
Third Party Payments
The Third Party Payments subtab works in conjunction with the Tax Month Management subtab. Both of these tabs are available in Payroll > Post Commit Management. For details about each of these subtabs, see the following topics:
Check and Direct Deposit Register Report
You can run the Check and Direct Deposit Register Report to review BACS totals at individual, payroll, and company levels. The report includes the following:
- All employees with a deposit amount that is greater than £0.00, regardless of employment status.
- All values for employees who have multiple active deposit accounts for all deposit amounts that are greater than £0.00. Employees can be included in a report more than once if they have multiple deposit accounts.
You can run this report in Payroll > Overview or Payroll > Pay Run Management. The following screenshot shows an example of the Check and Direct Deposit Register Report dialog box:
You can run the Check and Direct Deposit Register Report by Pay Period or Pay Date Range and can select the Pay Group, Year, one or more pay periods, Bank/Routing Accounts, and all or selected employees. You can also limit the report to selected legal entities and locations.