How-to

Compose a BACS payment run

Batch multiple approved supplier bills into one BACS file your bank can ingest.

2 min readLast updated 26 May 2026
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What it does

A BACS payment run groups multiple approved supplier bills into a single bank file — either BACS Standard 18 fixed-width or CSV, depending on what your bank ingests. You select the bills, set a payment date, approve the run, export the file, and upload it to your bank's portal. Remittance emails fire automatically to suppliers on first export.

Eligible bills are: status approved, not yet paid, and have a sort code + account number on the supplier contact. Anything missing bank details is excluded from the picker until you fill them in.

How to use it

  1. Open Payments → New run. Choose BACS as the method.
  2. The picker shows every eligible bill. Tick the ones you want in this run. The total updates live at the bottom.
  3. Set the payment date — the intended bank-debit date, not today's date. This drives the BACS file's processing-day field.
  4. Click Submit. If a payment-run approval policy matches (most teams configure one for runs over a threshold), the run lands on pending_approval. Otherwise it auto-finalises.
  5. From finalized, click Export and pick CSV or BACS18. The file downloads and the run flips to exported. Remittance emails go out to suppliers with email on file (and who haven't opted out).
  6. Upload the file to your bank's BACS portal.
  7. When the bank confirms the credits, return to the run and click Mark paid. Each item flips to paid and the underlying bills update — see Reconcile a payment run.

Tips

  • Set your originator details (company sort code + account number) on Company profile first. Without those the BACS18 export errors — CSV still works, but the file your bank wants is almost certainly BACS18.
  • BACS settles on a 3-working-day cycle from the payment date. If you need same-day, use Faster Payments on a single bill instead.
  • The run holds at finalized until you export. Use that gap to double-check totals — once exported, remittances have gone out.
  • A bill stays approved (not paid) until you mark the run as paid. The run, not the export, drives the bill status.

Still stuck? Email support or open the support widget in the bottom-right.