Standing Order Payment (SOP): a product on Faster Payments (UK)

What it is

Corroborated (public primary) The name and summary are the TransactionType record's own, with its own status. This product is derived by the build from 7 records that already exist (1 draft, 6 corroborated; strongest source class public primary), and the page carries no status, confidence or corroboration of its own.

An asynchronous regular payment of a set amount to a named payee, held by the sending participant until the day it is due and only then submitted to the central infrastructure. Standing orders run on weekdays only, excluding public holidays in England and Wales, and a due date falling on a weekend or such a holiday is held to the next working day. A sending participant must submit at least nine in ten of its standing orders between midnight and 06:00, and must retry later in the day where the payer had insufficient funds. The payer may ask for one to be cancelled before it is submitted.

Anchor: an authorisation of its own
Effective since: Unknown: the public documents read do not date the payment types
Confidence: medium
Record: uk-fps:txn.standing-order-payment

Who can use it

Vocalink, the FPS central infrastructure provider service_provider; bound by its rules
Consumer (reimbursement rules) party; gives the authorisation
Sending FPS Institution institution; receives the authorisation, bound by its rules

How it is authorised

Standing order instruction Draft, unchecked

The payer's own standing instruction to its own payment service provider to push a set amount to a named payee at a stated interval. It is not a debit mandate and it is nothing like a direct debit authority: Faster Payments carries no debit pull at all, so nobody outside the payer's provider holds it, and the central infrastructure never sees it. The instruction only produces a payment on the due date, when the provider submits a standing order payment; until then there is nothing on the rail. The payer may ask the provider to cancel it, and the provider may do so at any time before the payment is submitted. Where a payee's account has been switched under the Current Account Switch Service, the central infrastructure redirects the payment and the sending participant must then update the payer's standing instruction within the permitted timescale.

Form

A standing instruction the payer gives its own provider through that provider's own channel. Neither the form nor the wording is set by any public document read; how the instruction is captured and evidenced is each provider's own matter.

Scope

a fixed amount to a single named payee, identified by sort code and account number
repeating on a schedule the payer sets, executed only on weekdays excluding public holidays in England and Wales
held by the payer's own provider and submitted to the central infrastructure only on the due date

Given by

Consumer (reimbursement rules)

Given to

Sending FPS Institution

Record

uk-fps:mandate.standing-order-instruction

States Orca holds

No lifecycle state of its own is held for this product.

Its own codes

No code set or reason code of its own is held for this product.

Timings and limits

Rule	Parameter	As typed on the record
At least nine in ten standing orders go out between midnight and 06:00 Corroborated (public primary)	limit	at least 90 percent submitted between midnight and 06:00
The central infrastructure rejects a payment above GBP 1,000,000 Corroborated (public primary)	limit	GBP 1,000,000 for a single payment, enforced by the central infrastructure

Its rules, by facet

5 Rules, each in its record's own words with its own status. A rule reached only through the authorisation says so; a rule that also applies to another transaction type names it.

A payment is irrevocable the moment it reaches the central infrastructure Corroborated (public primary)

The point at which an individual Faster Payment can no longer be taken back is the moment the sending institution submits it to the central infrastructure. Pay.UK states this as the defined point of irrevocability for the system. Nothing later in the payment's life moves that point: acceptance, qualified acceptance and settlement all come after it.

Rests on rule. Confidence medium. Also applies to Single Immediate Payment (SIP), Forward Dated Payment (FDP), Direct Corporate Access (DCA) payment. uk-fps:rule.irrevocable-on-submission-to-ci

A participant retries a standing order or forward dated payment later the same day Corroborated (public primary)

Where the payer did not have the money when the sending participant first ran its standing orders or forward dated payments, the participant retries later in the day to give the payer a chance to pay funds in. Pay.UK states that this is required by the Financial Conduct Authority. For an attended single immediate payment there is no such obligation: the payer has to ensure the funds are there or have made another arrangement, and whether the participant retries at all is its own commercial choice.

Rests on guidance. Confidence medium. Also applies to Forward Dated Payment (FDP). uk-fps:rule.retry-later-the-same-day-on-insufficient-funds

At least nine in ten standing orders go out between midnight and 06:00 Corroborated (public primary)

A sending participant has to process at least 90 percent of its standing orders between midnight and 06:00, and customers should expect the funds by the start of the working day. The exception is a payer who did not have the money: there the retry process takes over and the payment goes later in the day.

Rests on rule. Confidence medium. uk-fps:rule.standing-orders-90-percent-before-06-00

Standing orders run on weekdays only Corroborated (public primary)

A standing order may only be executed on a weekday that is not a public holiday in England and Wales. Where the due date falls on a weekend or such a holiday, the sending participant holds the payment back to the next working day. This is the one place on the rail where the calendar limits a payment, and it is narrower than the definition of a business day the reimbursement rules use, which excludes a bank holiday in any part of the United Kingdom.

Rests on rule. Confidence medium. uk-fps:rule.standing-orders-weekdays-only

The central infrastructure rejects a payment above GBP 1,000,000 Corroborated (public primary)

There is one value ceiling for the whole system and the central infrastructure enforces it: a payment above it is rejected by the infrastructure itself, not by the receiving bank. The current figure is GBP 1,000,000, raised from GBP 250,000 in February 2022.

Rests on rule. Confidence medium. Also applies to Single Immediate Payment (SIP), Forward Dated Payment (FDP), Direct Corporate Access (DCA) payment. uk-fps:rule.system-value-ceiling-one-million

What it inherits from the rail

Settlement How and when does the money settle between institutions?
No rule specific to this product is held for this question. The rail's own answer is linked; whether it applies to this product unchanged is not asserted. How and when does money actually move between the banks?.
Return How does a payment come back, and on what deadline?
No rule specific to this product is held for this question. The rail's own answer is linked; whether it applies to this product unchanged is not asserted. How does money come back on this rail?.
Recall Can the sender ask for a payment back, and who decides?
No rule specific to this product is held for this question. The rail's own answer is linked; whether it applies to this product unchanged is not asserted. Can a payer get a Faster Payment recalled?.
Refund Can the payer get the money back, and on what right?
No rule specific to this product is held for this question. The rail's own answer is linked; whether it applies to this product unchanged is not asserted. When does a payer get their money back as of right?.
Liability Who bears a loss when something goes wrong?
No rule specific to this product is held for this question. The rail's own answer is linked; whether it applies to this product unchanged is not asserted. Who bears the loss when a Faster Payment goes wrong?.
Consumer law What does the law give a consumer here, beyond the rulebook?
No rule specific to this product is held for this question. The rail's own answer is linked; whether it applies to this product unchanged is not asserted. What does the law give a consumer that the scheme does not?.
Messages What messages carry the payment and the answers to it?
No rule specific to this product is held for this question. The rail's own answer is linked; whether it applies to this product unchanged is not asserted. What does a Faster Payment look like on the wire, and what codes come back?.
Participants Who may take part, and in what role?
No rule specific to this product is held for this question. The rail's own answer is linked; whether it applies to this product unchanged is not asserted. Who can be on the rail, and on what terms?.
Human decision points Where does a rule leave the decision to a bank or a person?
No rule specific to this product is held for this question. The rail's own answer is linked; whether it applies to this product unchanged is not asserted. Where does a person or a bank actually decide something?.

Where the rail's answer differs for it

Finality
The rail's answer, When is a Faster Payment final, and can it be undone?, lists 1 rule specific to this product: A payment is irrevocable the moment it reaches the central infrastructure.
Hours
The rail's answer, When does the rail run, and how fast must a bank answer?, lists 3 rules specific to this product: Standing orders run on weekdays only; At least nine in ten standing orders go out between midnight and 06:00; A participant retries a standing order or forward dated payment later the same day.
Limits
The rail's answer, How much can one Faster Payment carry?, lists 1 rule specific to this product: The central infrastructure rejects a payment above GBP 1,000,000.

Shared with the rail

Rejection shared with the rail
The rail's own exception; this product's records point at it and it is not restated here. Reached from uk-fps:rule.system-value-ceiling-one-million (part of).

Standing Order Payment (SOP)