Cheques are starting to clear by the end of the next weekday

  • Phased roll-out of faster cheque clearing begins today
  • The new system reduces cheque clearing times from ‘six weekdays’ to the ‘end of the next weekday’ (weekday = Monday to Friday)
  • Volume of cheques going through the new system low to begin with then gradually increasing
  • The roll-out will complete during the summer of 2018

Today (30th October 2017) sees the start of the phased roll-out of a new, image-based cheque clearing system that will speed up cheque processing significantly for customers across the UK.

Cheques processed via the new system will mean that if a customer pays in a cheque on a weekday they will be able to withdraw the funds by 23.59 on the next weekday (excluding bank holidays) at the latest, with many banks and building societies likely to allow access to the funds earlier than this.

Initially, the volume of cheques going through the new system will be small and the vast majority of customers will not notice any change to how quickly their cheques clear. However, over time, increasing numbers of cheques will be cleared using the new system and more and more customers will benefit from the faster timescale. Then, at some stage in the summer of 2018, all of the UK’s banks and building societies will clear all cheques via the image-based system to the faster timescale.

The precise date as to when this will happen will be announced by the industry in due course. Until then, two clearing systems will operate in parallel, which means that some cheques that customers write or pay-in will be cleared more quickly via the image system, and some will clear to the existing, six weekday timescale through the current, paper-based system. Banks and building societies will be advising their customers of their individual roll-out plans as appropriate.

James Radford, Chief Executive Officer of the Cheque and Credit Clearing Company, said: “This is a momentous day in the history of the cheque. For more than 350 years the way cheques have been cleared in this country has essentially remained the same. Now, with the introduction of cheque imaging, we are bringing the UK cheque into the 21st century, ensuring that it remains a secure, robust and viable payment method for the millions of charities, businesses and personal customers that still write or receive cheques on a regular basis.”

Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Stephen Barclay MP said: “Cheques still play an important role in our economy, but as times change it is vital that our methods of payment keep pace.  The innovation of cheque imaging will help make them fit for the future by cutting clearing times and helping customers access their money more quickly.”

Introduction of the new process will mean that when a cheque is cleared via the image-based system, not only will the recipient receive the money in their account more quickly; the money will leave the account of the person or business that wrote the cheque to the faster timescale too.

Customers will still write cheques as they do today and give or post them to recipients in exactly the same way as they always have. Cheque recipients will still be able to pay in cheques in the normal variety of ways, such as at a bank or building society, by post or at an ATM. This continuation of regular customer practice is particularly important for charities, which receive many donations via this payment method; and for any other people that may prefer to carry on using cheques in exactly the same way as they always have.

Cheque imaging is also about providing more choice, and it means that some banks and building societies may offer their personal customers the additional option of paying-in an image of the cheque – by using a secure mobile banking app on their smartphone or tablet – rather than having to go to a bank to pay it in. For business and charity customers banks may provide desktop scanners linked to their online bank account, allowing them to pay in any cheques that they receive as digital images.

For more information about how the new process will work click here.

Cheque imaging questions and answers can be found here.

An infographic showing how a cheque will clear via the image-based system can be viewed here.

A timeline showing the history of the cheque from 1659 to 2018 is available here.

 

 

The Cheque and Credit Clearing Company (C&CCC) is a non-profit making industry body, which has managed the cheque clearing system in England and Wales since 1985, and in all of Great Britain since 1996 when it took over responsibility for managing the Scottish cheque clearing.  As well as clearing cheques, the system processes bankers’ drafts, postal orders, warrants, government payable orders and travellers’ cheques. The C&CCC also manages the systems for the clearing of paper bank giro credits and euro cheques (drawn on GB banks).

The Belfast Bankers’ Clearing Company Limited (BBCCL) is a non-profit making industry body. It was set up in 2007 as a means of formalising the existing rules and standards for the sterling cheque and credit clearing in Northern Ireland.

Cheque usage
Although cheque usage is in decline, 477 million were written in 2016.This shows that cheques are still important for certain groups and in certain situations.  As such the Cheque and Credit Clearing Company has taken steps to improve the cheque clearing process to ensure that cheques can be sustained for those consumers, charities and businesses that use them.

Secure and reliable

The new clearing process will be as secure and reliable as the one we use now.  Robust security measures have been built into the new process and, as with the situation today, customers are protected if they are an innocent victim of cheque fraud.

Imaging around the world
The UK will not be the first country in the world to introduce cheque image processing, and therefore can learn from the experiences of other countries that have introduced similar systems. The USA, France and much of the rest of Europe, India, China and some other Asian countries have image-based processes in place.

Legislation

The introduction of cheque imaging required a legislative change and, following on from a consultation into speeding up cheque payments that ran from March to April 2014, the Government published its conclusions on 25 June 2014, along with the draft enabling legislation within the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill. The approved Bill received Royal Assent in March 2015, and the enabling legislation came into force on 31 July 2016.