No new Non-AUDDIS Service User Numbers after 1 July 2027

Every business that collects money by Direct Debit does so under a Service User Number, and the way those numbers work is about to change for anyone applying for a new one. Bacs has confirmed that from 1 July 2027, payment service providers will no longer create Non-AUDDIS Service User Numbers, which means every SUN issued after that date will lodge its Direct Debit Instructions electronically.

The change is narrower than the headline suggests, and the detail matters more than the date. This is what changes, what does not, and what to do about it depending on where your business stands today.

What is changing on 1 July 2027?

Bacs has given the reason plainly. Removing paper from the service improves accuracy and efficiency for service users, payment service providers and paying customers alike. Paper instructions are slower to lodge, easier to key incorrectly and harder to trace when something goes wrong.

What is AUDDIS, and how is it different?

AUDDIS is the Automated Direct Debit Instruction Service. It is the mechanism that lodges a new Direct Debit Instruction with the payer’s bank electronically, through the same Bacs submission process that carries your collections.

Under a Non-AUDDIS arrangement, the paper Direct Debit Instruction goes to the payer’s bank, and you begin collecting once it is set up there. Under AUDDIS, the instruction is submitted as a data record instead. There is no positive confirmation. If the payer’s bank cannot apply the instruction it tells you within five working days, through the AUDDIS report, and if nothing comes back the instruction is lodged.

The practical difference is where you find out about a problem. With a paper instruction, an incorrect account number often surfaces at the first collection, several weeks after the customer signed up. With AUDDIS, it surfaces within five working days of lodging the instruction, before any money has been asked for. That is the accuracy improvement the change is aiming at.

Does this affect your existing Service User Number?

No. If your business already holds a Non-AUDDIS SUN, it continues to work exactly as it does today. You can still lodge new Non-AUDDIS Direct Debit Instructions against it, and you can continue to collect from every instruction you already hold. Bacs has set no migration deadline and published no intermediate dates.

It is worth being clear about that, because a change of this kind tends to be reported as though a switch is being thrown. It is not. The restriction applies to the creation of new Non-AUDDIS SUNs, not to the operation of existing ones.

Who does this affect?

Three groups, and it is worth working out which one you are in before deciding whether it needs your attention this year.

Businesses applying for a first Service User Number

If you apply after 1 July 2027 you will be AUDDIS from the start, and there is nothing to decide. The practical consequence is that your software or your bureau needs to be able to lodge instructions electronically, which any Bacs approved Direct Debit product does as standard.

Businesses planning an additional SUN

This is the group most likely to be caught out. A group adding a new trading entity, a business acquiring another company, or an organisation separating one collection stream from another will often want a second SUN. After 1 July 2027 that SUN will be AUDDIS, even where the existing one is not. Running both side by side is workable, but it means two different sign-up processes inside the same finance team, and that is worth designing rather than discovering. Timing matters here too. A sponsoring bank assesses each application on its own merits, and that assessment takes weeks rather than days, so a business that expects to need a second SUN in the first half of 2027 is better off starting the conversation early than assuming it can be arranged in the run-up to the date.

Businesses still collecting on a Non-AUDDIS SUN

Nothing changes for you on the date. The question is whether it is worth moving to AUDDIS anyway, which is strongly recommended as paper mandates present an archaic and risk prone problem, as well as being environmentally unfriendly. Most businesses that make the move do it because errors surface earlier and sign-up becomes faster, not because they are required to. The one thing worth doing now is making sure whoever handles your sign-up process knows the restriction exists, so that a request for another Non-AUDDIS SUN is not made after the date and refused.

What is a Service User Number, and how do you get one?

A Service User Number is the unique six-digit number that identifies your business to Bacs whenever you collect or pay money through the scheme. It appears on every Direct Debit you collect and every Direct Credit you pay, and it is how a payer’s bank knows who is asking.

You apply through a sponsoring bank rather than to Bacs directly. The bank assesses your trading history, your financial standing and how you intend to use the scheme, because it takes on the risk if your collections go wrong. That assessment is the reason a newer business often cannot obtain one immediately, and a business in that position generally needs to build a trading record and go back to its sponsor.

Having a Service User Number and running the submissions yourself are two different things. Every service user needs a way to get files to Bacs, which means either purchasing Bacs approved software you run in house or using a Bacs approved bureau that submits on your behalf. With a bureau you use your own SUN and hand over the submission work, along with the scheme knowledge and the operational burden that goes with it. That is why it suits businesses that hold a SUN but have no appetite for running collections internally.

What should you do about it?

• Check which type of SUN you hold. If you are not certain, your sponsoring bank or your Bacs provider can tell you in a sentence.

• If you expect to need an additional SUN, decide whether to apply before 1 July 2027 or plan for it to be AUDDIS. Either is fine — being surprised by it is not.

• If you are applying for a first SUN, make sure your software or your bureau lodges instructions through AUDDIS. Any Bacs approved Direct Debit product does.

• If you are still lodging paper instructions, look at what your sign-up process actually costs you in delay and rekeying before deciding whether to move.

• If a bureau makes your submissions, ask whether your SUN is AUDDIS and what the change means for you. In most cases the answer is nothing.
  
  

Interbacs: Bacs Direct Debit support for UK businesses

Interbacs has supplied Bacs software and bureau services to UK businesses since 2003, and holds both Bacs Approved Software and Bacs Approved Bureau status. Scheme changes like this one are part of what our team tracks so that customers do not have to, and we would rather tell you a change does not affect you than let you worry about it.

If you are applying for a Service User Number, or working out whether to run your submissions in house or through a bureau, our team will talk you through it.

Looking for support? Get in touch with our expert team for a friendly chat and to discover more about our direct debit solutions.