No.

Length

Position

Contents

Notes

1

3

1-3

Label identifier

Must be 'VOL'

2

1

4

Label number

Must be '1'

3

6

5-10

Serial number

Unique alphanumeric characters, right justified. Cannot be all spaces or zeroes. Each unique reference is validated against duplicates and is held for a period of 3 months.

4

1

11

Accessibility indicator

Should be blank or '0'

5

20

12-31

Reserved field

Blank filled

6

6

32-37

Reserved field

Blank filled. HSBCbb or SAGEbb (b=blank) marker is mandatory in the files where no OIN/SUN is quoted. See Example 2 below.

7

14

38-51

Owner ID

38-41 Blank filled

42-47 Must be Service User Number (SUN) Assigned by BACS to a customer. Blank if HSBC or SAGE is used.

48-51 Blank filled

8

28

52-79

Reserved field

Blank filled

9

1

80

Label standard level

Should be '1'

No.

Length

Position

Contents

Notes

1

3

1-3

Label identifier

Must be 'HDR'

2

1

4

Label number

Must be '1'

3

17

5-21

File identifier

5 Should be 'A

6-11 Must be same as VOL1 (character positions 42-47). Blank if HSBC or SAGE is used.

12 Should be 'S'

13-14 Space filled

15 Blank space or 1

16-21 Should be blank filled or the same as VOL1 (character positions 42-47)

4

6

22-27

Set identification

Must be the same as the submission serial number is VOL1 (character positions 5-10)

5

4

28-31

File section number

Must be '0001'

6

4

32-35

File sequence number

Must be '0001'

7

4

36-39

Generation number

4 numeric or space filled

8

2

40-41

Generation version number

2 numeric or space filled

9

6

42-47

Creation date

This is the creation date of the file. Must be in the form bYYDDD (i.e. a blank space followed by the last 2 digits of the year and the day (001 to 366) of the year (should be less than or equal to the BACS processing day in UHL1 (positions 5-10)

10

6

48-53

Expiration date

The expiration date indicates to BACS the earliest date at which file may be overwritten. Should be in the form bYYDDD as described for character positions 42-47 above. Should be greater than the BACS processing day in UHL1 (positions 5-10). For Multi processing day files this should be greater than the latest processing date.

11

1

54

Accessibility indicator

Should be blank space or '0'

12

6

55-60

Block count

Should be zero filled

13

13

61-73

System code

May contain any valid characters or be space filled

14

7

74-80

Reserved field

Should be blank space filled

No.

Length

Position

Contents

Notes

1

3

1-3

Label identifier

Must be 'HDR'

2

1

4

Label number

Must be '2'

3

1

5

Record format

Should be 'F'

4

5

6-10

Block length

Should be 5 numeric characters. Use 02000

5

5

11-15

Record length

00100 for single processing day files, 00106 for multiple processing day files

6

35

16-50

Reserved for operating systems

May contain any valid characters or be space filled

7

2

51-52

Buffer offset

Should be zero filled

8

28

53-80

Reserved field

Should be blank space filled

No.

Length

Position

Contents

Notes

1

3

1-3

Label identifier

Must be 'UHL'

2

1

4

Label number

Must be '1'

3

6

5-10

BACS processing day

BACS have a 3 days cycle (minimum three UK bank working days) for a payment instruction to be submitted, processed, and reach the destination account. Must be in the form bYYDDD, as described in HDR1 Record field 9. Must be a valid BACS processing day (BACS processing calendar is available from www.bacs.co.uk). If not a valid BACS processing day, the file will be rejected.

4

10

11-20

Identifying number of receiving party

11-16 Must be 999999

17-20 should be blank space filled

5

2

21-22

Currency code

Should be '00'

6

6

23-28

Country code

Should be zero filled

7

9

29-37

Work code

For a single processing day file, must be 1bDAILYbb (where b indicates blank)

For a multi processing day file, must be 4bMULTIbb (where b indicates blank)

8

3

38-40

File number

Must be all numeric, unique IDs should be used in each file as these are validated to avoid duplicate submissions.

9

7

41-47

Reserved field

Should be blank space filled

10

7

48-54

Audit print identifier

48-50 May contain the alphabetic characters 'AUD' if a sample of transactions is required to be printed on the input report.

51-54 May be all numeric and used to indicate the frequency of transactions printed on the input report.

11

26

55-80

For use by User/ bureau

Must be blank. Not used nor validated.

No.

Length

Position

Contents

Notes

1

6

1-6

Destination sort code

This must be six numbers and must be a valid sorting code

2

8

7-14

Destination account number

This must be eight numbers and must be a valid account number

3

1

15

Destination account type

Must be '0'

4

2

16-17

Transaction code

01 - First payment Direct Debit

17 - Direct Debit

18 - Re-presented direct debit

19 - Final payment direct debit

99 - Bank Giro credit

Z4 - Interest payments

Z5 - Dividend payments

0N - AUDDIS New DDI

0C - AUDDIT Cancel DDI

0S - AUDDIS Convert DDI

5

6

18-23

Originating sort code

This must be six numbers and must be the originators sort code

6

8

24-31

Originating account number

This must be eight numbers and must be a valid account number linked to originators SUN

7

4

32-35

Free format

4 blank spaces

8

11

36-46

Amount (in pence)

The contents must end at the right and any unused character positions at the beginning must be zero filled.

9

18

47-46

Users name

The contents must begin at the left and any unused character positions at the end must be blank space filled. Should be the originating account name abbreviated.

10

18

65-82

Users reference

To identify the payment being claimed (Direct Debit) or made (Direct Credit).

For Direct Debit payment instructions, must contain at least six alphanumeric characters. Other valid characters may be included but will not be included in the count of six alpha-numerics. After taking out non-alphanumeric characters, must not contain a string of all the same alphanumeric characters.

The following are allowed characters by BACS: Alpha characters (UC only) A-Z, numeric characters 0-9, full stop, ampersand, slash, hyphen, and blank space.

Beneficiary roll number must be quoted in this field if the payment is made to financial institutions that require it.

11

18

83-100

Destination account name

To identify the account to be debited/ credited from the account number in fields 1 and 2

12

6

101-106

BACS processing day of data

To identify the BACS processing cycle intended for this record in MULTI PROCESSING FILES ONLY:

Must be in the form bYYDDD (as described above), must not be earlier than UHL1 date, must be a valid BACS processing day, must not be more than 39 days after UHL1 date.

No.

Length

Position

Contents

Notes

1

6

1-6

Originating sort code

This must be six numbers and must be the originators sort code

2

8

7-14

Originating account number

This must be eight numbers and must be a valid account number linked to the originators SUN

3

1

15

Type of users account

Must be '0'

4

2

16-17

Transaction code

17 - Debit

99 - Credit

5

6

18-23

Originating sort code

This must be six numbers and must be the originators sort code

6

8

24-31

Originating account number

This must be eight numbers and must be a valid account number linked to the originators SUN

7

4

32-35

Free format

4 blank spaces

8

11

36-46

Amount (in pence)

The contents must end at the right and any unused character positions at the beginning but me zero filled. This is the contra total.

9

18

47-64

Narrative (users choice)

Reference for the debit account (for Direct Credits) or credit account (for Direct Debits). The contents must begin at the left and any unused character positions at the end must be blank space filled

10

18

65-82

Contra identification

Must be 'CONTRA' followed by 12 blank spaces

11

18

83-100

Abbreviated account name of users nominated account

To identify the account to be debited/ credited from the account number in fields 1 and 2. Should be the Users name in the Standard Record.

12

6

101-106

BACS processing day of data

To identify the BACS processing cycle intended for this record in MULTI PROCESSING FILES ONLY.

* Must be in the format bYYDDD (see above)
* Must not be earlier than UHL1 date
* Must be a valid BACS processing day
* Must not be more than 39 days after UHL1 date.

No.

Length

Position

Contents

Notes

1

3

1-3

Label identifier

Must be 'EOF'

2

1

4

Label number

Must be '1'

3-11

50

5-54

Same as HDR1

Same as HDR1

12

6

55-60

Block count

Many contain any valid characters but is not checked by BACS

13-14

20

61-80

Same as HDR1

Same as HDR1

No.

Length

Position

Contents

Notes

1

3

1-3

Label identifier

Must be 'EOF'

2

1

4

Label number

Must be '2'

3-8

76

5-80

Same as HDR2

Same as HDR2

No.

Length

Position

Contents

Notes

1

3

1-3

Label identifier

Must be 'UTL'

2

1

4

Label number

Must be '1'

3

13

5-17

Monetary total of debit records

Must contain the monetary total (in pence, right justified, zero filled) of the amounts in debit records (transaction codes 01, 17, 18, 19). DDI file must quote zeros only.

4

13

18-30

Monetary total of credit records

Must contain the monetary total (in pence, right justified, zero filled) of the amounts in credit records (transaction codes 99, Z4, Z5). DDI files must quote zeros only.

5

7

31-37

Count of debit records

Must contain the count (right justified and zero filled) of the number of debit records, e.g. ACH Credit file: 18 records with transaction code 99 and a contra record with transaction code 17, value would be 0000001. ACH Direct Debit file: 18 records with transaction code 17 and a contra record with transaction code 99, value would be 0000018. DDI must quote zeros only.

6

7

38-44

Count of credit records

Must contain the count (right justified, zero filled) of the number of credit records, e.g. 18 records with transaction code 99 and a contra record with transaction code 17, value would be 0000018. ACH Direct Debit file: 18 records with transaction code 17 and a contra record with transaction code 99, value would be 0000001. DDI file must quote zeros only.

7

10

45-54

Reserved for future use

Should be blank space filled

8

26

55-80

For use by user or bureau

Should be blank space filled.