Bacs approved software: the register, and what the columns mean
Pay.UK approves the software that connects to Bacs. The register tells you who is approved — it does not tell you which of the five capabilities you actually need, and picking the wrong one is the expensive mistake. This page lists every approved organisation and explains the columns.
The short version. Pay.UK lists 12 organisations, of which 11 hold approval for 22 named products. Approval covers the interface to the payment system, not the quality of the product. Only 4 of the 11 (AccessPay, Bottomline Technologies, Finastra (Accountis), Paygate) are also approved for Faster Payments via Secure-IP, so if you need both Bacs and Faster Payments from one supplier, that column narrows the field first.
And before any of this matters: you only need approved software if you submit to Bacs yourself, which requires a Service User Number sponsored by your bank. If you collect through a provider that holds the SUN, this register is not your decision to make.
What the approval does and does not cover
Pay.UK describes an approved supplier as “a software solutions developer and supplier providing software, hardware and consultancy services to Bacs Payment System customers, to enable them to use the service”. The testing programme checks how a product authenticates parties and services, secures its communications, structures submissions and reports, handles errors and warnings, and uses the Bacs trademarks.
That scope is worth reading carefully, because it is narrower than the phrase “approved software” suggests. Approval is a statement that the product can talk to the payment system correctly and securely. It is not a review. Pay.UK does not rank these products, and neither do we — we have no basis to. What follows is the register as published, plus an explanation of the columns.
The five columns, and who needs which
Bacstel-IP — the Bacs connection
The channel into the Bacs Payment System: Direct Debits and Direct Credits on the three-day cycle. Every product on the register holds this. If your need is payroll, supplier payments or Direct Debit collection, this is the baseline and it is not a differentiator.
Faster Payments (Secure-IP) — the other connection
A separate approval for the Faster Payment System, for near-instant single payments rather than batched cycles. Held by 4 of the 11 organisations. This is the column that most often surprises people, because a supplier being “Bacs approved” says nothing about whether it can send a Faster Payment.
Bureaux — submitting for others
Bureau products handle multiple files for multiple service users. Payroll bureaux and accountancy practices submitting on behalf of clients need this; a business paying only its own staff and suppliers does not. 10 organisations offer at least one bureau-capable product, and several sell the single-file and bureau versions as different products.
HSM — signing without a person present
A Hardware Security Module holds the signing keys in hardware instead of on an individual’s smartcard. It is what makes unattended and high-volume submission workable, because smartcard signing needs a named person at the point of submission. 8 organisations offer it on at least one product.
Hosted service — who runs the software
Hosted products run as a service; the alternative is installing on your own infrastructure, with the smartcard readers, certificates and renewals that come with it. 9 organisations offer a hosted option. Several list on-premise and cloud versions of the same product separately, and the capabilities are not always identical between them.
One pattern runs through all five: capabilities attach to products, not to companies. Suppliers on this register hold up to 4 separate approvals with different column marks. Choosing a supplier and assuming the capabilities come with it is the mistake the table below exists to prevent — check the row, not the logo.
The register
Every organisation holding Bacs approved software status, with the capabilities recorded against each named product. Reproduced from Pay.UK’s register; capabilities are theirs, not our assessment.
| Product | Bacstel-IP | Bureaux | HSM | Faster Payments | Hosted Service |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Absolute Payment Solutions | |||||
| APS portal | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | – | ✓ |
| AccessPay | |||||
| AccessPay Bacs Connectivity | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Bottomline Technologies | |||||
| PTX | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Elseware | |||||
| f2b | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | – | – |
| f2b for bureaux | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | – | – |
| Finastra (Accountis) | |||||
| Bacsactive-IP Web Enterprise | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Interbacs | |||||
| DDMS Interpay | ✓ | ✓ | – | – | – |
| DDMS Interpay Web | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | – | ✓ |
| Interpay | ✓ | ✓ | – | – | – |
| Web Interpay | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | – | ✓ |
| Mosaic Software by ClearDebit | |||||
| Mosaic Submit | ✓ | – | – | – | – |
| Mosaic Submit (Cloud) | ✓ | – | – | – | ✓ |
| Mosaic Managed | ✓ | – | – | – | – |
| Mosaic Bureau | ✓ | ✓ | – | – | – |
| OneAdvanced Limited | |||||
| V1 BACS | ✓ | – | – | – | – |
| V1 BACS Bureau | ✓ | ✓ | – | – | – |
| Paygate | |||||
| paygate Enterprise | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| paygate Online | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Smarterpay | |||||
| Smarterpay 2018 (On Premise) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | – | – |
| Smarterpay Cloud (v4) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | – | ✓ |
| iConnect | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | – | ✓ |
| WPM | |||||
| WEBDDS | ✓ | – | – | – | ✓ |
Form 3 also appears on the register with a limited scope: Approved by Pay.UK for report retrieval only on their Bacstel-IP solution. It is listed without a product capability table.
Source: Pay.UK, Bacs approved software, retrieved 1 September 2026. Pay.UK publishes no last-updated date on the register and suppliers can join or leave at any time, so confirm current status with Pay.UK before you commit.
The register as data
Pay.UK publishes the register only as an interactive accordion — there is no CSV, no PDF and no API, and a plain-text copy of the page collapses the table and mis-assigns the ticks. We transcribed it cell by cell from the rendered page, so this is a machine-readable copy of the register you can actually parse.
Download the register as JSON — 22 products, 11 organisations, with the source URL and retrieval date embedded. Free to reuse with attribution to this page and to Pay.UK as the originating source.
Working out which row you need
Decide whether you are submitting at all
Direct submission needs a Service User Number sponsored by your bank, and the bank will want to see your processes before it sponsors one. If that is more than you want to take on, a provider or an approved bureau submits for you and this register stops being your problem. Our Direct Debit guide covers what the SUN route commits you to.
Establish whether you submit for others
If you submit files for clients rather than only for yourself, you need a bureau-capable product. This is a hard requirement, not a preference, and it eliminates most single-file products immediately — including some sold by suppliers whose other products do qualify.
Check whether you need Faster Payments too
Bacs runs on a three-day cycle, so anything urgent — a corrected salary, an off-cycle payment, a same-day refund — needs a different rail. If you want that from the same system, you need the Secure-IP column, and only 4 organisations have it. Our payment timing calculator shows what the cycle difference means for a given submission date, and the BACS guide explains the cycle itself.
Match the signing method to how you actually work
Smartcard signing needs a named person present for every submission, which becomes a single point of failure the first time that person is on holiday during a payroll run. If submissions are automated, scheduled or run by a distributed team, filter for HSM support.
Then ask the questions the register cannot answer
Price, contract length, support hours, how the product handles rejections and returns, and whether it fits your accounting and payroll systems — none of that is in scope for approval, and all of it decides whether the product works for you. The register narrows the field to a shortlist. It does not pick from it.
Common questions
What does Bacs approved software actually mean?
It means Pay.UK has tested and approved that product's interface to the payment system — not the product as a whole. Pay.UK's Bacs Approved Software Service checks how a solution authenticates parties and services, secures communications, structures submissions and reports, handles errors and warnings, and uses the Bacs trademarks. Approval says the software can connect correctly and safely. It says nothing about its price, its usability, its support, or whether it suits your business.
What is the difference between Bacstel-IP and Secure-IP?
They are two different connections. Bacstel-IP is the channel into the Bacs Payment System, which is what you use for Direct Debits and Direct Credits on the three-day cycle. Secure-IP is the channel into the Faster Payment System, for near-instant single payments. A supplier can be approved for one, the other, or both, so if you need both you must check the column rather than assume.
Do I need Bacs approved software to collect Direct Debits?
Only if you submit to Bacs yourself. Submitting directly requires a Service User Number sponsored by your bank, and approved software (or an approved bureau) to make the submission. Many businesses never touch either: they collect through a provider that already holds the SUN and the connection, and the compliance obligations sit with that provider instead. Which route you take is the first decision to make, because it determines whether this register is relevant to you at all.
What does the bureau column mean on the register?
A bureau product can submit multiple files on behalf of several different service users, rather than one organisation's own payments. If you are a payroll bureau, an accountancy practice or any business submitting for clients, you need a product marked in that column. A single-file product will not do the job, even from the same supplier.
What is HSM approval for?
A Hardware Security Module stores the signing keys in dedicated hardware instead of on a smartcard held by a named person. It matters when submissions need to run unattended or at volume, because smartcard signing ties every submission to someone physically present. If your payment runs are automated or your team is distributed, HSM support is the column to check.
Is the list of approved suppliers fixed?
No. Suppliers join and leave, and products are added and withdrawn. Pay.UK maintains the register and does not publish a last-updated date on it, so treat any copy of it — including this page — as a snapshot and confirm current status with Pay.UK before you commit.
Written by the financeb2b editorial team · Register data transcribed from Pay.UK on 1 September 2026 · Last updated 1 September 2026 · Editorial policy
Not sure you need to submit at all?
Most businesses that ask about Bacs approved software are really asking how to pay people and collect from customers reliably. We can talk through whether direct submission is worth the setup, or whether the same result comes from infrastructure that already holds the connection.