In a business world where everything moves at pace, speed and efficiency are key to success.

When it comes to paying your staff, faster payment technology can provide a host of benefits to your business, helping you save time and improve the effectiveness of your operations.

What exactly is a ‘faster payment’?

Currently many businesses use BACS to pay their staff, either via their in-house teams or via their outsourced payroll function, such as Johnston Carmichael; as a BACS approved bureau, our specialists can make payroll and third-party payments on our clients’ behalf. BACS payments take three days to process – for example, if we submit the payment on a Wednesday, it lands in the employee’s bank account on the Friday.

Faster payment technology allows this process to be accelerated. As well as BACS, our payroll specialists also utilise the ability to send a faster payment via UK-based technology solutions that allows payments to be made in as little as 90 seconds. So, what does this mean for your business?

More automated and efficient payments

For businesses using BACS, any faster payments required need to be processed manually through online banking. With technology these days, automated faster payments can be made without needing to log in to online banking and make individual online transfers. As your outsourced payroll specialists, using these solutions we prepare payments for your approval, so you retain full control over the funds being transferred. You then review and approve the payments all in one go through a secure portal, and we send the payments on your behalf. The funds will be immediately transferred with no processing delays.

Equally, our tailored solution can offer an automation solution for start-up companies or businesses in some sectors such as Rural that are unable to use BACS as they don’t have the required credit history at the early stage of their business. For these businesses without BACS, the entire payroll must be managed using spreadsheets and manual online banking payments. Our advanced solution allows businesses without a comprehensive credit history to set up an account which can be linked to our payroll software. We can then automate these processes and make faster payments for you, taking away the headache of manual payment and reconciliation.

Currently, through our tailored technology, we can handle all UK bank accounts and building societies and aims to launch European payments soon for businesses with overseas operations.

A reliable back-up plan – foolproof your payroll system

If a new staff member joins your business right before their contractual pay date and the deadline has passed for processing that month’s BACS payments, our immediate payment facility means that your employee can still be paid in time. Likewise, should you discover that an employee has been missed from the BACS run, you can make their payment via our solution in seconds. Ensuring your people are paid on time is critical, so we can give you peace of mind that you have a contingency plan if BACS payments are not an option.

A secure and regulated solution

Faster doesn’t mean any less careful! All solutions are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and every payment is prepared, reviewed, double checked, and approved in the same way a BACS payment would be. The system operates via a secure online portal for payments to be prepared, approved, and sent and requires two-factor authentication for additional security. As your outsourced payroll providers, we never hold your funds or run your bank accounts - we simply feed in and tell your account what to do through our payroll software.

How does it work?

Once payroll is approved, your Payroll Specialist will ask you to ‘top-up’ your designated account with the required funds to settle all of your payroll related transactions. Prior to the top-up, all draft payments will be sitting there awaiting approval.

Once funds have been added (through a quick and easy online transfer), you can simply hit ‘Approve’ and funds will either be released immediately or on the desired date (agreed with Johnston Carmichael). You can handle all of this within the app.

More accurate management information

Our technology allows funds to be transferred live in real-time, so your financial information will be up-to-date and accurate at any given moment - no need to remember to account for cash that’s caught in processing limbo! Real-time data means you can always accurately assess how your business is performing and make better, more informed decisions.

Find out more

Our specialist Payroll Services team are on hand to help you improve your processes and maximise the efficiency of your business. To find out more about faster payments and how we can help, please don’t hesitate to fill in the short form below.