Tuesday 03-03-2026 - 16:48

Central Billing is moving to an in-house invoice reader which means LWC and Brakes need to make some changes to the way they manage accounts.

 

Brakes accounts will be moving to Swiss Post which means students’ unions will be able to access digital copy invoices where a paper copy is misplaced or hasn’t been left with the delivery.

 

What does this mean for Brakes customers?

If you’re placing an online order, you don’t need to do anything as your account number won’t change and will simply transfer over to your new Swiss Post account.

For those that place telephone orders, you’ll receive a new account number.  Brakes will set up the new account numbers and notify the account holders once live.  If you need a new account number, and haven’t already notified us, please contact emma.rowlands@nus.org.uk as soon as possible.

 

What does this mean for LWC customers?

LWC can only support one invoice address per account which needs to be NUS’s so we can process the invoices.  This means they need to generate new account numbers for all users so their ordering process is compatible with the new invoice reader.

You were recently asked to complete a quick form to let us know who those account holders should be at your SU.  If you haven’t done so, or need the information updating, please submit this form. It’s really important these details are accurate as LWC will no longer send email invoices once the portal is live.

As LWC start to set up new accounts, activation emails will be sent to all nominated users in students’ unions.

 

How to access the portal?

Brakes and LWC will send you instructions on how to access the portal as the accounts are transferred over.

 

Why are we making these changes?

For more than 20 years, Central Billing has relied on an external provider to translate data files. Costs for this service continued to rise year-on-year so we developed an in‑house invoice reader to reduce expenses and improve efficiency.  The new invoice reader requires suppliers to submit PDF invoices so we can process them and make collections and payments in the usual way.

 

If you have any questions or need to be added to an account, please complete the form above for LWC accounts or contact emma.rowlands@nus.org.uk for Brakes accounts.