Just changed my bank a/c to Alliance and Leicester - free business banking, and you can pay in at any PO:
https://www.alliance-leicestercommercialbank.co.uk/content/SB010002.asp
Not a complete solution and a bit of a PIA to change bank accounts, direct debits, but so far so good.
I was thinking of opening an account with these as it's free permanently, but I don't have a branch local enough. (Well it's about 3 miles away)
So just to clarify, I can pay in either at the Alliance & Leicester branch or a Post Office? Also can you pay in at Santander as I think that's who they're owned by?
I have an account with Santander, the old Abbey National, and they do offer "free" business banking but they delay the money showing up in your account for over a week, ten days sometimes. Also if you transfer money out of your account or even to another santander account it disappears for about three days and then appears in the other account. So there is free and there is their idea of "free".
Santander have serious IT problems IMO. They keep chopping and changing things like transfer times, whether or not to display BACS references and even whether they can be arsed to post back cheques that a customer may bounce on you. These may seem like minor glitches but I have been left seriously in limbo by them a few times now and am gradually moving my banking elsewhere. Indeed, if Co-op bank had a branch local to me wherre I could deposit cash and cheques 24/7 by ATM, I would complete a move away from Santander.
As for clearance times I find the following to generally be true (though it can sometimes vary a bit):
If I deposit cheques with Santander, the funds become available on the same day of the week as I deposit them (so long as I do it before evening) but obviously, on the following week. This is delayed a bit when there are public holidays. This is when I deposit by ATM (branch deposits aren't allowed. If posting them the cheques, obviously it takes longer. If you have had a 10 day wait before, I assume that's when you have posted them. Cash ATM deposits are available either the following day or one day later depending on the time of day that I make the deposit.
Transferring money out of the business account is very hit and miss. I do transfer money to my Santander personal account quite a lot. This used to happen immediately (or within 60 seconds) unless done during the night. Recently, without warning, they put a 24 hour delay on this. Fortunately there was enough in my personal account to avoid a bouncing direct debit. It was pure luck though. When I queried it they said they had IT probs that they were "resolving". Two months later it is still unresolved.
IMO this is a Mickey Mouse bank but they are useful as I live near a branch and can make ATM deposits easily.
There are other things I could go into but suffice to say that if the ATM deposit facility were removed, I would move all my business (business and personal) elsewhere.