The below guidance explains key Direct Debit requirements, including when paper mandates are needed for multiple signatories or business accounts, the 24‑month dormancy rule and the restriction to UK bank accounts only.
Direct Debit with multiple signatories
If you're setting up a Direct Debit that requires more than one authorised signatory, all signatories must complete and sign a paper Direct Debit mandate. Each person may sign within the same signature box.
Once the completed mandate is received, you should enter the details into the system and keep the original paper form securely. If the bank requests the mandate at a later date, you will then need to provide them with the paper copy.
Direct Debit dormancy rule
Most banks apply a rule that a Direct Debit Instruction becomes dormant if it hasn’t been used for twenty four months.
Bacs does not send us any notification when a contract becomes dormant, so the status will not update automatically in the system.
We recommend reviewing the contract’s payment history to check whether the last payment has been outstanding longer than the bank’s dormancy period.
The dormancy rule is set by the banks and any payment or AUDDIS message sent to the bank resets the twenty four month dormancy timer. If you are migrating from another bureau, outside of Access PaySuite, you must send 0Cs from your previous bureau and 0Ns from Access PaySuite to restart the dormancy period.
If you need further assistance, please reach out to our support team and request to speak to an agent.
Direct Debit using a business account
Under the Bacs guide and rules, all signatories must sign a mandate if a business bank account is owned by multiple people, though there is some leeway in how this is applied.
📌Note: Most Bacs‑approved wording states that payments must be made from a personal account or that a signed mandate is required when using a business account.
Direct Debit with a non-UK bank account
Direct Debits can only be set up using a UK‑based bank account. This is because the Direct Debit system operates exclusively within the UK banking network and requires account details that follow the UK’s standard format.
A UK bank account is identified by two key pieces of information:
an eight digit account number
a six digit sort code
These details are specific to UK financial institutions, which means that European or other international bank accounts can’t be used to set up Direct Debits.