ADDACS Reason Codes
ADDACS — the Automated Direct Debit Amendment and Cancellation Service — is how the banks tell you that something about an existing Direct Debit instruction has changed: the payer’s account details were corrected, or an instruction that had been cancelled has been re-instated. There is nothing to fix in your file; there is a change to apply to the mandate instead.
ADDACS codes
| Code | Meaning |
|---|---|
| L | Incorrect payer's account details |
| R | Instruction re-instated |
These are the two codes seen most often. The complete list of ADDACS codes is in your bank's Originator's Guide.
Frequently asked questions
- What does ADDACS stand for?
- Automated Direct Debit Amendment and Cancellation Service — the service that tells an originator a payer's bank details or instruction have changed, or that a cancellation has been withdrawn.
- What should I do on an 'instruction re-instated' code?
- The instruction is live again, so collections can resume against the existing mandate reference — no new instruction is needed.
- Why are only two codes listed here?
- L and R are the codes an originator meets most often. The complete list of ADDACS codes is in your bank's Originator's Guide.
These codes describe why a Direct Debit mandate or payment was rejected — a banking/account issue, not a file-format problem. If instead your BACS submission file is malformed and won't upload to the bank (wrong record length, bad line endings, a UHF1/UTL1 mix-up, or totals that don't reconcile), that's what BACS Check repairs — paste or upload your file here →