Latest volume and values of the UK's payment systems

Issue 330 | 27 May 2022

In this edition of the Payments:Unpacked Tracker we see the impact on the volume and value of payments processed in the UK following the easing of Covid restrictions, compared to the final days of Lockdown 3.0 conditions in 2021.

Note: All data is publicly sourced and is the latest available: Pay.UK April 2022, Link May 2022 and UK Finance February 2022.

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Source: Pay.UK

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Bacs Direct Debit and Direct Credit

In the 12 months to the end of April 2022 we see that:

• Bacs Direct Credit volumes have decreased by 1% (12 months to March decreased by 1%)

• Bacs Direct Debit volumes have increased by 3% (12 months to March increased by 3%)

• Total Bacs volumes have increased by 2% (12 months to March increased by 2%)

• Bacs Direct Credit values have increased by 4% (12 months to March increased by 4%)

• Bacs Direct Debit values have increased by 9% (12 months to March increased by 10%)

• Total Bacs values have increased by 5% (12 months to March increased by 6%)

Volumes for Bacs Direct Credits in April 2022 increased by 6% when compared with April 2021. This mirrors 2021 when again the volume of Bacs Direct Credits was greater than the previous year – albeit last year this was only 0.5%.

Since April 2021 when Lockdown 3.0 restrictions eased the volume of Bacs Direct Credits has been less than the equivalent month in the previous year in all months except April 2021 (increase of 0.5% ) June (increase of 2%) September (increase of 3%) and November (increase of 5%) and now April 2022 (increase of 6%)

In contrast, growth in Direct Debit volumes year on year is still seen at 3% for the 12 months to April 2022 when compared with the 12 months to April 2021. As Direct Debits account for 70% of Bacs payment volumes, this has helped to maintain the growth seen over the year at 2% for the 12 months to April 2022 when compared to the 12 months ending April 2021.

Year on year growth for the value of Bacs Direct Credits has remained at 4% for the 12 months ending April 2022. However the value of Bacs Direct Credits processed in the month itself fell back slightly by 0.5% for April 2022 when compared with April 2021.

Growth in the value of Direct Debits is again seen with the value processed in April 2022 being 6% greater than in April 2021.

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CHAPS

In the 12 months to the end of April 2022 we see that:

• CHAPS volumes have increased by 9% (12 months to March increased by 11%) 

This was made up of a 11% increase in retail / commercial based payments and a 5% increase in financial institution payments, compared to 12% increase and 6% increase respectively for the 12 months to March.