Account NI System Upgrade – September 2023

The planned upgrade of the payment system for the Northern Ireland Civil Service Departments is due to take place this September.

The Account NI system, which processes payments on behalf of Northern Ireland Civil Service Departments will be upgraded during September 2023. This is necessary to ensure business continuity and the performance of the system, which processes £4 billion of payments annually, is maintained.

The upgrade will take place from 6pm on Wednesday 6 September to Tuesday 26 September 2023.

During this time the system will be unable to process invoices and make payments for goods and services.

Who will be impacted?

Businesses and individuals who supply goods and services to NI departments will be impacted by the upgrade. However, of the businesses impacted, this will only affect those submitting invoices and expecting payment, during September 2023.

This upgrade will not impact outside bodies, such as health, education, PSNI, etc. who will continue to have their bank accounts funded to allow them to make payments from their own financial systems. There will also be no impact on the payment of benefits.

What action should be taken?

Where possible suppliers should send invoices for work completed to Account NI well in advance of 6 September 2023. This may mean bringing forward some invoices from your normal billing cycle to meet this deadline.

During the upgrade suppliers should:

Continue to send invoices to Account NI as normal.
Invoices will be processed in the date order they were received from suppliers. Account NI has plans in place to reduce any backlog as quickly as possible when access to the system is resumed.
The Account NI Service Desk will remain open during the downtime and can be reached by emailing servicedesk@accountni.gov.uk.

There will be a facility for the processing of emergency payments if businesses are facing financial hardship. To access this facility businesses should liaise with their relevant departmental contact.

How soon will payments be made after the upgrade?

Payments will recommence on 26 September 2023. Additional resources are being put in place to ensure invoices submitted during the upgrade will be paid as soon as possible.