A Direct Debit instruction is a standing consent. The Payment Services Regulations 2017 (SI 2017/752) govern how that consent is given, how it is withdrawn, and what happens when a payment the payer did not expect leaves the account. The same regulations give a refund right for a transaction initiated by the payee, claimable within eight weeks of the debit. Alongside the law sits the Direct Debit Guarantee, a Bacs scheme rule administered by Pay.UK, under which the payer's own bank refunds immediately. The instruction that starts all of it holds a name, a sort code, an account number and a signature. anonym.plus marks each field on your machine, so the form structure stays intact while the customer details are shielded.
When this applies
A processor onboarding a new billing platform asks for sample mandates in the live format. The Service User Number and the field positions matter to them. The payer's name, sort code and account do not.
How anonym.plus handles it
- Open the form in anonym.plus on your device.
- Local OCR reads a scanned, signed page.
- It flags the holder, sort code, and account.
- Confirm the flags and keep the Service User Number.
- Swap or black out the confirmed fields.
- Save the clean file locally.
What you need to provide
- The instruction (PDF, DOCX, or scan).
- An operator (Replace keeps the form readable).
- Optional allow-list for the Service User Number.
PII & financial identifiers detected
| Category | anonym.plus entity type | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Names | PERSON | payer S. Davies → [PAYER] |
| Financial | UK_SORT_CODE | 60-16-13 → [SORT_CODE] |
| Financial | UK_BANK_NUMBER | 31926819 → [ACCOUNT] |
| Contact | EMAIL_ADDRESS | davies@example.co.uk → [EMAIL] |
| Location | LOCATION | home address → [ADDRESS] |
| Dates | DATE_TIME | signed 02/2026 → [DATE] |
Compliance achieved
- Handles the consent record the Payment Services Regulations 2017 (SI 2017/752) make central to an authorised payment.
- Keeps the trail behind the eight-week refund right the PSRs 2017 give for a payee-initiated transaction.
- Preserves the Service User Number a claim under the Direct Debit Guarantee (Bacs, administered by Pay.UK) is traced by.
- Applies the minimisation duty in UK GDPR Art. 5(1)(c), with Art. 6(1)(b) as the contract basis.
- Local OCR reads the signed page; nothing is uploaded.
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Limitations & cautions
A masked account number that keeps the sort code still narrows the payer to one branch's customer base, so remove both for true anonymity. A redacted copy also cannot evidence consent — a PSRs 2017 dispute turns on the original instruction.
Frequently asked questions
Does the tool detect a sort code and account?
Yes. Both entity types match full UK banking details, and you can mask or remove them in a single pass across the form.
What is the difference between the PSRs 2017 and the Direct Debit Guarantee?
The regulations are law and set the refund right for a payee-initiated payment, with an eight-week window. The Guarantee is a Bacs scheme promise administered by Pay.UK, and is what a customer actually claims under at their own bank. A mandate file is evidence for both, so the original has to stay complete.
Is the mandate uploaded?
No. The desktop app runs locally, so the instruction stays on your device.