How to check a UK sort code: which bank it belongs to, what a check proves and when to use Confirmation of Payee

What a sort code is

A sort code is part of the information banks use to route and settle payments in the UK (Pay.UK). Sort codes are allocated to payment service providers that offer UK accounts, and Pay.UK manages the rules for allocating them.

Wise describes the format simply: sort codes “are made up of 6 digits, split into 3 pairs of numbers”. Wise adds that the first pair usually identifies the bank and the other two the branch, but that is a rule of thumb, not a guarantee, so look a sort code up rather than guess from its first digits. The account number is separate and has 8 digits.

The central record of UK sort codes is the Extended Industry Sort Code Directory (EISCD), which Pay.UK calls “the central source of information used by all the payment systems”. Vocalink licenses the directory and says it is updated weekly.

How to check which bank a sort code belongs to

There are three free routes. Use whichever fits what you need to know.

Vocalink’s checker. Vocalink licenses the sort code directory, and the directory powers its free checker. Its terms limit you to 5 uses a day and forbid copying the checker or framing Vocalink’s site on another site. For more than 5 a day, the terms say you need a licence from Vocalink.

Pay.UK’s checker. Pay.UK says its checker is “provided for informational purposes only” and recommends confirming services with your own bank for time-critical payments. It is most useful when a payment has bounced or you want to know whether an account can take a particular kind of payment.

Your bank. For everyday payments the simplest check is the one you already have. When you add a new payee, your bank runs Confirmation of Payee on the name, and many apps also show the receiving bank’s name. If the bank name is not the one you expected, stop and check.

If you are given a sort code for a bank you have never heard of, that is not a problem on its own. Sort codes are allocated to payment service providers that offer UK accounts, not only high-street banks (Pay.UK). What matters is whether the account belongs to the person you mean to pay.

What a sort code check can and cannot tell you

A sort code lookup answers one question: which bank, and which payments can it receive? It does not tell you anything about the account or the person behind it.

Some tools go one step further and run the UK modulus check on the sort code and account number together. This is the published maths that catches typing errors. Vocalink, which publishes it, is clear about its limits: a pass means the account number “is a possible account number for the sorting code, but does not necessarily mean that it is an account number being used at that sorting code”. Some sort codes have no modulus rule at all, so a “can’t check” result does not mean the details are wrong.

In short, a sort code check is useful for catching typos and failed payments. It is not a fraud check. A fraudster’s account passes it just as easily as the real one.

Confirmation of Payee: checking the name on the account

Confirmation of Payee (CoP) is an “account name-checking service designed to help reduce misdirected payments” (Pay.UK). It compares the name you type with the name on the account that the sort code and account number belong to.

It runs inside your own banking app or online banking when you set up a new payee or change an existing one. NatWest says it focuses on “domestic Faster Payments, CHAPS and Standing Orders”; Nationwide lists single payments, bills, standing orders and CHAPS. You use it through your bank: there is no public website where you can run a CoP check yourself.

On 22 October 2026 the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) removed the 1 November 2026 expiry date from its CoP direction, so the requirement on most payment service providers to offer CoP stays in force unless the PSR varies or revokes it. According to the PSR, more than 320 organisations offer CoP and over two million checks are completed every day.

Red flags for payment diversion fraud

Payment diversion fraud works by swapping the bank details just before a payment. The sort code and account number the fraudster sends are real and valid. That is why a sort code check alone cannot catch it.

Watch for:

• An email, text or call saying bank details have changed. The National Crime Agency (NCA) says plainly: “LAW FIRMS RARELY CHANGE THEIR BANK DETAILS”.
• Urgency or pressure, especially just before completion, a deposit deadline or the end of the week.
• A phone number in the same message as the new details. Call the number you already have or the firm’s published number, “not the one given in the email” (NCA).
• A CoP result other than a match, or a sender who tells you to ignore it.
• An unexpected bank name when you add the payee.
• A sender’s email address that looks slightly different from the one you usually see.

The NCA’s advice is to check by calling before you transfer, send a small sum first and make sure it has been received, and “NEVER transfer money until you are satisfied the details are correct”.

Our free tools can help with parts of this. Check before you pay looks at the email domain and details that came with new payment instructions. For international payments, the IBAN checker tests the IBAN’s country, length and checksum and shows the sort code and account number inside a UK IBAN. Neither tool confirms who owns the account, so still call back.

For the full picture, read our guides on how to check a bank account before you pay and payment diversion fraud for estate agents.

For regulated firms: checking client bank details before you pay out

Estate agents returning deposits, solicitors paying completion monies and accountants making client refunds all pay money to bank details that someone else gave them. A short, written routine protects the firm and the client.

1. Collect bank details at the start of the job, in person, by phone or in the client care letter, not in a late email.
2. Tell clients you will never change your own bank details by email, and say so in your email signature and terms.
3. Run CoP on every new or changed payee. Treat close match, no match and unable to check as a stop.
4. Call back on a number already on file before paying any new or changed details. Never use a number from the message that brought the details.
5. Ask a second person to approve any change of bank details.
6. Send a small test payment first and confirm it has arrived (NCA), especially for large sums.
7. Keep a note on the file of who confirmed the details, when and on which number.

If something goes wrong, speed matters. Call your bank straight away on a number you already know, or call 159, and ask it to contact the receiving bank. Then report to Report Fraud (which replaced Action Fraud on 4 December 2025) at reportfraud.police.uk or on 0300 123 2040. In Scotland, report fraud to Police Scotland on 101.

Checking bank details is fraud prevention, not customer due diligence (CDD). An AML check, such as an AML Buddy check, confirms who your client is and screens them for sanctions, politically exposed persons (PEPs) and adverse media. It does not check bank accounts or sort codes, and AML Buddy does not offer a sort code checker or Confirmation of Payee. See our guide to customer due diligence and the glossary entry on fraud prevention.

See also the estate agents, solicitors and accountants hubs.

This guide is general information, not legal or financial advice. Your bank’s own guidance decides what happens with a specific payment.