The Bank of England has published a summary of its RTGS CHAPS Industry Forum meeting held on 13 October 2026. The minutes, released on 4 November, describe continuing work on settlement hours and payment-system resilience.
Respondents to a recent consultation broadly supported longer settlement hours, according to the Bank. The feedback favoured further weekday extensions before adding Sundays and bank holidays, but the Bank had not decided the sequence. It plans a consultation response in early 2027.
The Bank also said implementation work for a 1.30am CHAPS opening was progressing. That statement concerns planned system changes, not confirmation that a home mover can send completion money at any chosen hour. The meeting separately considered contingency arrangements and the limitations of manual processing during disruption.
Do not confuse system hours with your deadline
For a property transaction, the practical question is what the parties handling the money require for that particular completion. Ask your conveyancer to explain when funds must be available, what your bank’s own process involves and who will confirm receipt. Do not infer those answers from a discussion of future central settlement hours.
If a chain is involved, agree how progress will be communicated. A payment leaving one account is not the same as confirmation from your conveyancer that the transaction has completed. Keep that distinction clear when making arrangements for keys and removals.
Plan the transfer process early
Before moving day, establish the payment method, any limits requiring action and the information the bank or conveyancer needs. Ask what happens if a transfer is delayed and which person should be contacted. Keep the relevant instructions somewhere accessible rather than relying on a last-minute search through messages.
Treat any unexpected change to payment details as a reason to stop and verify through an independently established contact. This is a practical precaution; nothing in the forum minutes changes the need to follow your own professionals’ confirmed instructions.
What the update tells us
The minutes show that industry work on longer hours and resilience is still developing. Property professionals may wish to follow the early-2027 response, while avoiding promises about faster or later completions before the operational implications are clear.
For today’s home mover, a confirmed timetable and a clear communication plan remain more useful than assuming future payment-system proposals already apply.
Source: Bank of England, RTGS CHAPS Industry Forum summary, meeting of 13 October 2026, published 4 November 2026.