Moving cheque payments into the 21st century has taken another huge leap as Barclays announced today the roll out of 'cheque imagining' to one million more of its customers.

The service, which allows people to pay in cheques by taking a photograph of it rather than visit their branch, has been available to those with an iPhone since last summer. But now, those with android smartphone and iPads, can choose to sign-up for the scheme.

The pilot, available via the banking app, has seen 30,000 iPhone customers sign up for it in the last year and nearly £750,000 deposited.

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Breakfast banking: Barclays is rolling out cheque payment technology to one million more customers

The technology allows cheques up to £500 to be deposited and the money is then available for withdrawal instantly.

Cheques take a maximum of two working days to clear if deposited by 4pm, rather than the six-day period via the traditional way.

If the cheque bounces, customers are notified and the money taken back out of the account.

On its terms and conditions, it says: 'You authorise us to take a cheque payment back out of your Barclays account - even if we have allowed you to make a payment or take cash out against it,' in a number of scenarios.

This includes for bounced cheques, cheques accidentally paid into the wrong account or if you are unable to provide the real, original cheque within ten days, if requested.

Several businesses have already signed up to the scheme. The high street banking giant said corporate customers are able to scan and upload cheques using software on their office computers or by logging into a website.

Ashok Vaswani, Barclays personal and corporate banking chief executive, said: 'Our customers have welcomed this convenient new way of depositing one of the oldest forms of payment, which is why extending to android phones is an important step forward in giving all customers the ability to pay in cheques using their mobile devices.'

Previous plans to kill off cheques from 2018 were ditched a few years ago after the Payments Council faced an outcry from MPs, small businesses, charities and pensioner lobby groups, who said the needs of millions of vulnerable people were being ignored.

Barclays has been working closely with the Government towards the aim of delivering a UK-wide solution to cheque imaging.

A previous government consultation found that the traditional method of processing cheques creates 'delay and expense'.

When paper cheques are paid into banks, they end up going on a journey around the country, travelling to the clearing centres of both the bank collecting the cheque and the paying bank so that sort codes, account numbers, and signatures can be checked for fraud and to establish there are sufficient funds.

The technology also comes at a time as big banks cut branch numbers and have kitted many existing ones out with gadgets in a bid to cut queues - and retail staff numbers.

Last month, Lloyds Bank confirmed it was piloting a scheme which would enable customers to pay in cheques using their smartphone.