DWP Payment Contingency Service

This procurement is for the provision of the DWP Payment Contingency Service. A Sponsor Bank is required to support the functionality of the Payment Contingency Services. Without a Sponsor Bank in place, the Payment Contingency Services is unable to operate. This contingency service is invoked in situations when there is a delay with release of the BACS payment file, which contains benefit and pension payments and the Department's ability to make payment on time is threatened. The service transforms BACS payments into Faster Payments to ensure customers receive their benefit/pension entitlement on their due date, reducing reputational risk and satisfying the Secretary of State's obligation. The end to end Payment Contingency service requires two separate components, these are: • LOT 1 - A service to reformat BACS payments into Faster Payments for onward submission into the Faster Payment infrastructure • LOT 2 - A Sponsor Bank for the settlement of funds with the Bank of England. DWP makes circa. 2.5m payments per day and pays over £3.7bn per week.