Back to documentation
WorkCustomers2 min read

Billing Request and Direct Debit Setup Flow

How to create, review, copy, resend, and replace the customer Direct Debit setup link through GoCardless.

Work Planner Team12 April 2026

The Direct Debit setup flow starts from the customer subscriptions area when the customer does not yet have an active GoCardless mandate. The goal is simple: create a secure setup link, get it to the customer, and then come back ready to create recurring payments.

  • The business must have GoCardless connected: Without that, there is no setup link to generate.
  • The customer must not already have an active mandate: If they do, this flow is no longer needed.
  • The customer needs an email address: Work Planner requires a saved customer email address before it will create the billing request at all, even if you later plan to send the link by text.
  • Generate Link: Creates the secure authorisation URL for the customer.
  • What Work Planner stores: The pending billing request ID and URL are saved back onto the customer payment integration record so the same link can be reused if needed.
  • Existing pending link: If a pending setup link already exists, Work Planner reuses it instead of creating duplicates.
  • Copy: Copies the setup URL to the clipboard.
  • Send setup link: Opens the Message Customers Popup on your Direct Debit invite email and Direct Debit invite text, with the setup link filled in. The customer gets an email, or a text if they prefer texts or have no email address, and you can check the message before it goes. Change the standard wording in Settings, Document Templates.
  • Done: Closes the popup when you have finished with the current link.
  • View Setup Link: Appears when a pending setup link already exists for the customer.
  • Cancel & Create New: Cancels the current pending link and generates a fresh one. Use this if the old link should no longer be trusted or has gone stale in practice.

Why This Flow Matters Later

Recurring subscriptions and smoother debt collection both depend on the customer completing this Direct Debit setup first. If the mandate never becomes active, the customer cannot move into the normal GoCardless subscription flow.

Related articles

1 October 2026 • 6 min read

Increase Prices Popup

Put prices up for selected jobs from a date you choose, check every job's old and new price, and let customers know by email, text or a printed letter.

Read article
1 October 2026 • 3 min read

Navigating to Worksheet Jobs

How Navigate hands a job's address to Google Maps, Apple Maps or Waze, and how Work Planner brings the job back when you return.

Read article
1 October 2026 • 8 min read

Worksheet Route Popup

How the Route popup shows the stops still to do on a map with arrival times, and how to put them in a better order with Optimise Order, by dragging them, and by locking stops in place.

Read article