No, not if your mandates move through the Bacs bulk change process. The instruction each customer gave their own bank is transferred to your new provider, and your customers get a letter telling them about the change rather than a form to fill in. With Adfin, 10 or more mandates move this way; with fewer than 10, customers sign a new Adfin mandate online.
In this article
The short version
- Customers don't re-sign if mandates move through the Bacs bulk change process.
- GoCardless must co-operate with a bulk change and pass your mandate details to the new provider.
- Adfin moves 10 or more mandates this way; under 10, customers sign a new mandate online.
- Plan collections due around the change date so nobody is missed or charged twice.
- Payment history and recurring schedules stay behind, so export and rebuild them.
Why your customers don't need to sign again
It's easy to picture your mandates as a list sitting inside GoCardless that you either take with you or lose. A mandate is really an instruction your customer gave their own bank, allowing a named organisation to collect from their account. Their bank holds it. It points at GoCardless only because GoCardless runs your collections.
A Bacs bulk change repoints that instruction. Both providers and their sponsoring banks agree a change date, and from that date your customer's bank accepts collections from your new provider under the instruction it already holds. Nobody re-enters bank details, and nobody signs anything.
GoCardless can't block the move. Bacs scheme rules have required direct debit providers to support bulk changes since January 2018, and GoCardless's own terms commit it to passing your customers' mandate details to the new provider once the sponsor banks have approved the transfer.
Bacs doesn't set a minimum number of mandates for a bulk change, so each provider sets its own. Adfin moves 10 or more mandates from GoCardless this way. Under 10, customers sign a new mandate online, which is quicker than waiting weeks for two banks, and anyone who hasn't signed is chased and offered another way to pay in the meantime.
What your customers see
Before the change date, every customer gets written notice of the move in wording a sponsor bank has approved. You send it, using a template your new provider supplies. Keep it short and about one change: if you're planning a price rise too, send that separately with its own advance notice.
Tell customers what name they'll see on their bank statement. On GoCardless, unless you pay £50 a month for your own name, they see GoCardless. After the move they'll see the new provider's name unless you pay to show yours; Adfin Custom does that for £36 a month and is chosen when you join. A customer who doesn't recognise a new name may cancel the debit at their bank, so this line in the letter is likely to save you calls.
The Direct Debit Guarantee carries on exactly as before. Your customers keep their right to advance notice of any change to the amount, date or frequency, to a full and immediate refund if a payment is taken in error, and to cancel at any time through their bank.
Payments due around the change date
GoCardless asks you to stop creating new collections five to seven days before the change date. Anything it has already submitted still collects, unless the customer's bank fails it, and reaches you in a GoCardless payout with its fee taken off.
The customers to plan for are the ones whose collection falls in or near that pause. Two things can go wrong: a customer is missed for the month, or they're charged twice because a last GoCardless collection and a first new collection both go out for the same invoice. Before the pause starts, list every collection due in the weeks around the change date and decide, customer by customer, which side takes it.
Say a customer's £850 retainer normally collects on the 12th and your change date is the 15th. The 12th falls inside the pause, so you either raise it on GoCardless a few days early, before the pause begins, or collect it on the new provider just after the 15th, with advance notice of the new date. Note the choice against the customer.
If a final GoCardless collection fails, GoCardless still charges its fee on it, because it charges on every submitted payment. Once the mandate has moved, you raise the amount again on your new provider. Adfin doesn't charge for a failed direct debit: it retries for free, then asks the customer to pay by card or payment link.
Refund claims under the Guarantee can arrive months later. The Bacs bulk change deed keeps the old provider responsible for collections made before the transfer date and the new provider for collections after it, so keep your GoCardless account open until your last payout has landed and you've confirmed with both providers how a late claim would reach you.
What stays behind on GoCardless
A bulk change moves the instructions and nothing else. After the move:
- Payment history, payout reports and failed-payment records stay in GoCardless, so export them before you close the account.
- Recurring schedules, subscriptions and instalment plans don't transfer. Set them up on your new provider before the first collection date and check each one against what the customer was told.
- Any integration posting GoCardless payouts into Xero or QuickBooks keeps running until you switch it off.
- Mandates you leave out of the bulk change stay pointed at GoCardless, and you stay liable for refund claims on them until the customer signs a new mandate and you cancel the old one.
Once you're on Adfin, payouts arrive in full every weekday, with each payment matched to its invoice in Xero or QuickBooks. If an invoice slips during the move, its collection agents follow it up over email, SMS or WhatsApp within the rules you approve.
Common questions
Do my customers have to sign a new direct debit mandate if I leave GoCardless? Not if the mandates move through the Bacs bulk change process. They get written notice of the change and keep paying under the instruction they already gave their bank.
How many mandates do I need for a bulk change? Bacs sets no minimum, so it's up to each provider. Adfin moves 10 or more mandates through the bulk change; with fewer than 10, customers sign a new Adfin mandate online.
Can GoCardless refuse to move my mandates? No. Scheme rules have required providers to support bulk changes since 2018, and GoCardless's terms commit it to passing your mandate details to the new provider once the banks approve.
How long does a bulk change take? Usually several weeks while both sponsor banks approve it, which is why Adfin books change dates five or more weeks out.
Do payments already submitted on GoCardless still go through? Yes. They collect unless the customer's bank fails them, and reach you in a GoCardless payout with its fee deducted.
Does my payment history move with the mandates? No. Only the mandate details move, so export your history and set up your recurring schedules again on the new provider.
Sources
- GoCardless Support Centre - Bulk changing away from GoCardless (accurate as of October 2026) https://support.gocardless.com/hc/en-gb/articles/115005800129-Bulk-changing-away-from-GoCardless
- GoCardless - Bank Debit Terms (accurate as of October 2026) https://gocardless.com/legal/bank-debit-terms
- Bacs - Direct Debit Scheme bulk change deed (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.bacs.co.uk/media/bdpfhdc4/dd_bulk_change_deed_b.pdf
- Pay.UK (Direct Debit) - The Direct Debit Guarantee (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.directdebit.co.uk/direct-debit-explained/direct-debit-guarantee/
- Adfin Help Center - Bulk-migrate your direct debit mandates to Adfin (10+ mandates) (accurate as of October 2026) https://support.adfin.com/en/articles/12688044-how-to-migrate-direct-debit-mandates-to-adfin
- Adfin - Pricing (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.adfin.com/pricing
