CHAPS Payments: How They Work and When to Use Them

For most business payments in the UK, CHAPS is no longer the default. It's the option you reach for when the faster, cheaper one runs out.

That sounds odd for a system that moves around GBP 400 billion on a typical working day. But if you're paying a supplier GBP 60,000 or completing on a property, your questions are practical. Will Faster Payments even let this amount through? And will the money land today?

Get the limit or the cut-off wrong and a payment you promised for today arrives tomorrow.

This guide explains how CHAPS works and what it costs. It also compares CHAPS with Faster Payments and with Bacs, the UK's three-day batch system used for payroll and Direct Debits. It draws on rules and data published by the Bank of England and by the operator of Faster Payments. It's written by Statrys, which has processed over USD 7 billion in transfers for businesses.

What Is a CHAPS Payment?

A CHAPS payment is a same-day sterling transfer made through CHAPS (the Clearing House Automated Payment System), which is operated by the Bank of England under its CHAPS rules and operating hours.

Each payment is settled one at a time, in full, in the Bank's Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system, which moves money between banks' accounts at the central bank. Once settled between the banks, the transfer is irrevocable. CHAPS has no minimum and no maximum amount, and it only handles pounds sterling.

Over 35 banks and financial institutions connect directly. Thousands of smaller banks and payment service providers send their customers' CHAPS payments through one of them. The payment messages travel over SWIFT, the network banks also use for international transfers, where each bank is identified by its BIC/SWIFT code.

CHAPS is built for size. In October 2026, it processed 4.5 million payments worth GBP 9.3 trillion, according to the Bank of England's payment statistics. That's an average of roughly GBP 2.1 million per payment, pulled up by bank-to-bank and currency trades. The typical payment is far smaller: in 2025 the median CHAPS payment was GBP 4,586, and 94% were for GBP 1 million or less.

The Bank lists its main users as financial firms settling short-term lending and foreign exchange trades, companies making high-value or time-sensitive payments such as supplier or tax payments, solicitors completing property purchases, and individuals buying a car or paying a house deposit. A GBP 60,000 supplier payment is an everyday use of CHAPS, not an exception.

How Long Does a CHAPS Payment Take?

A CHAPS payment arrives the same working day if your bank sends it before its cut-off.

The CHAPS system opens at 6am and closes at 6pm, Monday to Friday, excluding bank and public holidays in England and Wales. Customer payments must be submitted by 5.40pm. Banks set their own customer cut-off, often well before that, so check yours before you promise a supplier same-day funds.

Miss the cut-off and the payment usually goes the next working day. A Friday afternoon instruction can therefore land on Monday.

The window is getting longer at the start of the day. The Bank of England has decided to move CHAPS opening from 6am to 1.30am, with go-live targeted for September 2027, subject to final confirmation with the banks, according to its early-morning extension policy statement. Sending in that early window will be optional for banks, so your bank may not offer it straight away.

CHAPS vs Faster Payments vs Bacs

CHAPS is the right choice when the amount is above your bank's Faster Payments limit or when the other side asks for CHAPS, as solicitors commonly do on property completions. For most other business payments, Faster Payments is quicker and cheaper.

The GBP 1 million figure is the ceiling, not your limit. Pay.UK, which runs Faster Payments, says each bank sets its own limits depending on how the payment is sent and the type of account. A business account might cap online Faster Payments far below GBP 1 million, and that cap is what pushes you to CHAPS.

Bacs works on a three-day cycle: the file goes in on day one and the money arrives on day three. It's built for batches such as payroll, not one urgent payment. For a closer look at the two older systems, see our CHAPS vs Bacs comparison.

How Much Does a CHAPS Payment Cost?

Your bank sets the CHAPS fee, and it's charged per payment rather than as a percentage.

There is no single published price list across banks. The most recent regulator figures date from 2015, when the Payment Systems Regulator found that end users typically paid GBP 25 to 30 per CHAPS payment, a figure the Bank of England cites on its CHAPS page. Check your own bank's current tariff, and check whether it also charges you to receive a CHAPS payment.

Because the fee is flat, its weight depends on the amount. On a GBP 60,000 payment, a GBP 25 fee is about 0.04%. On a GBP 600 payment, it's over 4%, and Faster Payments is the obvious choice.

How to Send a CHAPS Payment Safely

You send a CHAPS payment through your bank's online service or at a branch, with the recipient's name, sort code, account number and the amount.

Before you press send:

1. Check your bank's cut-off if the money must arrive today.
2. Confirm the account details by phone on a number you already know, not one taken from an email. Payment-diversion scams often target exactly these large, one-off payments.
3. Check the name-match result. Most UK banks and payment providers run Confirmation of Payee, a check that the name you enter matches the account, when you set up a new payee, and it can cover CHAPS payments. Don't override a "no match" warning without calling the recipient.
4. Check the amount and reference twice. Once a CHAPS payment settles, your bank can only ask the receiving bank to return it, and that depends on the recipient.

Since 7 October 2024, CHAPS payments between UK accounts made by individuals, micro-enterprises (fewer than 10 staff and turnover or balance sheet of no more than EUR 2 million) and charities with income under GBP 1 million are covered if the payer is tricked into paying a fraudster. Reimbursement is capped at GBP 85,000 per claim. Larger companies fall outside that protection, so these checks matter even more for them.

If you're choosing where to hold your UK business money in the first place, our guide to the best banks in the UK compares the main options.

Receiving CHAPS Payments as a Hong Kong Company

A Hong Kong company needs UK account details, a sort code and account number, to receive CHAPS payments.

Without UK details, a UK client pays you through an international SWIFT payment, with fees on both sides and a longer wait. With a UK sort code and account number in your company's name, the same client can pay you by CHAPS or Faster Payments as a domestic UK payment.

Statrys Hong Kong business account holders can add UK local currency account details, a sort code and account number in the company's name, that receive and send GBP through both CHAPS and Faster Payments. You request the UK details from your existing Statrys Digital Backoffice, and most requests are approved within 1 to 2 working days. Moving money between the UK local currency account and your Hong Kong account is free for the first transfer each month in each direction, then HKD 60.