Apacs promotes electronic payments amid postal strike

Apacs, the UK payments association, is using the current postal strike to promote the wider use of electronic payments as firms suffer from delayed cheques.

Apacs is also encouraging consumers to make wider use of the direct debit scheme for bills.

Sandra Quinn, director of communications at Apacs, said, "The postal strike serves as an effective reminder of the benefit of direct debits. Currently, direct debits are used for 58% of all personal and household bills. They save time and effort and regardless of any external factors you can be confident your bills will be paid on time without any hassle."

According to Apacs, the number of bill payments made by cheque has fallen by 32% since 2000.