We have been advised by NatWest that as of 1st June 2021 it will become a requirement that any cheques that we issue need to have added security features to prevent against fraud.
The University cheque printing system is unable to comply with the required security features and as such we have taken the decision to end the issuing of cheques from 1 June 2021.
In addition, following the closure of the NatWest branch on campus, the number of cheques issued has dramatically fallen however the cost associated with issuing cheques has continued to rise and this is no longer cost effective method of payment.
There are a small number of payments already on our system and waiting to be paid by cheque. These will be raised on 28th May 2021 and NatWest have confirmed these will be able to be cashed without any problems.
Therefore going forward could we kindly ask you to ensure the following:
- All invoices received will need to have bank details quoted on them if they are not from a regular supplier.
- Any suppliers currently set to receive cheques will need to provide evidence of their bank details to allow BACS payments to be made from 1 June 2021.
- Any change to bank details will need to have a verification document sent through to support the change. Please contact paymentsoffice@kent.ac.uk if you wish to confirm what we can accept.
- Any items paid for out of petty cash will now need to be claimed back through the Staff Connect expenses system or paid via Procurement Card. A scoping exercise carried out in March suggested that the majority of petty cash floats would be closed upon the return to campus.
- For any currency orders previously collected from NatWest these will now need to have the GBP amount paid into the traveller’s bank account so they can obtain their currency directly.
- If you have a requirement to maintain a cash float, G4S do offer a service that allows change to be ordered and delivered in a secure manner and this is the preferred University process.
We do appreciate this is a slightly different approach to our current payment methods and the Payments Team are happy to work with you to resolve any issues that may arise as a result of this change and to find a new appropriate way of handling payments that were previously paid by cheque.
Please contact E.L.Rowland@kent.ac.uk if you have any questions regarding this.