Businesses in York are being urged to plan in advance to avoid missing crucial payments over the Christmas holidays.

Bacs Payment Schemes Ltd, the company behind Direct Debit and Direct Credit, is reminding businesses which routinely pay via an automated system, to make plans to ensure staff and suppliers who are normally paid at the end of the month don’t miss out because of the non-processing days of over the festive period.

For payments to be made before Christmas 2013 the payment process has to begin on Friday, December 20, to ensure that money is in bank accounts by December 24.

If business owners are intending to pay staff or suppliers on New Year’s Eve, then the transfer process has to begin on Friday, December 27, at the latest.

Mike Hutchinson, head of marketing at Bacs, said: “Automated payments are not processed on Bank Holidays and we are urging business owners and finance departments to make sure essential payments are not delayed over the Christmas and New Year periods.”