For a UK practice collecting fees by direct debit, the providers worth comparing in 2026 are Adfin, GoCardless, London & Zurich and Access PaySuite. What separates them for a practice is what an annual fee note costs to collect, whether clients can sign the mandate with the engagement letter, whether your existing mandates can move across without clients signing again, and what you're committed to. Adfin caps the percentage at £4, has no contract and chases the fee notes direct debit doesn't collect.
In this article
The short version
- Adfin, GoCardless, London & Zurich and Access PaySuite are the direct debit options for a UK practice.
- On Adfin, an £1,800 fee note costs £4.20 to collect; an uncapped 1% would cost about £18.
- Adfin integrates with Socket, so the mandate is signed with the proposal.
- Access PaySuite's standard terms set a 12-month initial term, so read them before you commit.
- With 10 or more mandates, Adfin moves your book across and clients don't re-sign.
What a practice should compare
Practices bill everything from a £150 monthly bookkeeping fee to a £3,000 year-end fee note, often from the same client book. That spread changes which provider costs least, and a few other things matter as much as price.
- Larger fee notes: with a capped percentage, a large fee note costs little more to collect than a small one. On Adfin, a £250 monthly fee costs £2.70 and any fee note from £400 to £2,000 costs £4.20. An uncapped 1% would cost £18 on an £1,800 fee note.
- Whose name clients see: on a provider's shared Service User Number (SUN, the six-digit number Bacs issues to each direct debit collector), clients see the provider's name on their bank statements unless you pay for your own.
- What you're signing up to: you're putting your whole client book on the platform, so read the minimum term and the notice period, not just the pricing page.
- Clients who never sign: fee notes for clients who aren't on a mandate still need chasing, and a provider that only collects leaves that with your team.
Four providers compared
| Provider | Published price | Cap on the fee | Chasing unpaid fee notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adfin | 1% + 20p per payment | £4 on the 1%; 0.3% extra on amounts above £2,000 | Included |
| GoCardless | 1% + 20p (Standard) | £4 (Standard); 0.3% extra above £2,000 | Not offered |
| London & Zurich | Around 1% on Foundation; from 0.5% or 20p on Business | None published | Not offered |
| Access PaySuite | From 8p a transaction, quoted | n/a, priced per transaction | Not offered |
Adfin
Adfin collects fees by direct debit without your practice needing its own SUN, and the same link lets a client settle a one-off fee by card, wallet or bank payment. Each successful payment costs 1% + 20p, with the 1% never more than £4, and 0.3% is added on direct debit amounts above £2,000. There's no subscription or contract, and a failed collection is free: it's retried at no cost, and the client is then asked to pay by another method.
Clients see Adfin's name on their statements, or your practice name for £36 a month if you choose Adfin Custom when you set up. Collected fees reach your account every weekday, within three working days of the collection date and with nothing deducted, because Adfin invoices its fee separately. Two-way sync matches each payment to its fee note in Xero or QuickBooks. For clients who aren't on a mandate, Adfin's Customer Agents send reminders by email, text message and WhatsApp from your practice's own email domain, and can offer an instalment plan for a large year-end fee, within rules you approve. Adfin collects in sterling only.
GoCardless
GoCardless is a bank debit specialist. On Standard, each collection costs 1% + 20p up to a £4 cap, and collections above £2,000 attract a further 0.3%. Your clients will see GoCardless on their statements unless you add your practice name for £50 a month. Its fee is charged on each payment you put through and comes off before you're paid out, and its Success+ automatic retries are only on the higher-priced Advanced and Pro plans. With no card option and no chasing, a client who never signs a mandate is left for your team to follow up. It does collect in other currencies, if you have overseas clients.
London & Zurich
London & Zurich is a direct debit bureau, authorised by the FCA, that names accountancy among its sectors. For one and two person firms, its Foundation plan costs around 1% a collection on a shared SUN and includes ready-made sign-up forms and advance notices. Firms that want their own name on statements move to Business, from 0.5% or 20p, with a branded SUN. With no published cap, an £1,800 year-end fee note on Foundation would cost about £18. Unpaid fees aren't chased for you.
Access PaySuite
Access PaySuite belongs to The Access Group, which took over SmartDebit in 2021. It will either run collections for you or work through your practice's own SUN, and it prices from 8p a transaction for smaller firms, with your actual rate depending on how many payments you take and their size. Setup is free. The pricing page talks of no commitment, yet its standard terms and conditions set a 12-month initial term unless your order says otherwise, renewing for further 12-month terms, with at least 90 days' notice to end it. Read the terms alongside the quote before you move your client book onto it.
How mandates get signed and moved across
The easiest time to get a mandate signed is when the client accepts your proposal. Adfin integrates with Socket, so the client approves the proposal, signs the engagement letter and sets up the direct debit in one go, and it also integrates with the practice tools Engager.app and Sodium. Collections then start on the terms the client has just agreed, and nobody has to send a separate mandate request.
One mandate covers every fee after that. The amount can change from month to month with advance notice, and Adfin tells clients at least three working days before each collection, so an annual fee review or a one-off year-end charge doesn't need a new mandate. Mandates are open-ended, so the length of the engagement is set by the engagement letter, not the direct debit.
If 10 or more of your clients already pay by direct debit through another provider, they don't have to sign anything new: Adfin transfers the whole book under the Bacs bulk change process and collections continue. A book of under 10 moves by clients signing a new Adfin mandate.
How to choose
For a practice that wants mandates signed at engagement, chasing for the clients who aren't on one, and fee notes reconciled in Xero or QuickBooks, all without a contract, Adfin is the place to start.
If you have clients paying in other currencies, GoCardless is likely to fit better for those clients, because Adfin collects in sterling only.
Before you decide, run last year's fee notes through each rate card: a book with plenty of fee notes above £400 shows the difference between a capped and an uncapped percentage quickly. Then add the costs around the rate, such as a monthly fee for your practice name, a separate chasing tool and a card processor for one-off fees.
Common questions
What does it cost to collect an £1,800 annual fee note by direct debit? On Adfin, £4.20, because the percentage is capped at £4. An uncapped 1% would cost around £18.
Can the mandate be signed as part of the proposal? Yes. With Adfin connected to Socket, the client accepts the proposal and authorises the direct debit in the same approval.
Will my clients have to re-sign if I move my direct debits to Adfin? Not for a book of 10 or more mandates, which Adfin transfers under the Bacs bulk change process. A smaller book moves by each client signing a new Adfin mandate.
Does my practice need its own Service User Number? No. Adfin collects under its own SUN, so you don't need bank sponsorship or a direct debit facility of your own.
Can I collect a different amount each month under one mandate? Yes, as long as the client gets advance notice. Adfin notifies clients at least three working days before each collection.
Is there a minimum contract with Adfin? No. There's no contract and no monthly minimum, so you pay per successful payment and can stop when you choose.
Sources
- Adfin - Pricing (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.adfin.com/pricing
- Adfin - Socket integration (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.adfin.com/integrations/socket
- GoCardless - Pricing (accurate as of October 2026) https://gocardless.com/pricing/
- London & Zurich - Pricing (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.londonandzurich.co.uk/pricing/
- Access PaySuite - Direct debit pricing (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.accesspaysuite.com/payments/direct-debit/pricing/
- Access PaySuite - Terms and conditions V5, April 2026 (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.accesspaysuite.com/media/kpodtwl0/access-paysuite-tcs-v5-april-2026.pdf
