More of us are using automated payments, whether that means making an internet payment via our online banking or using a Direct Debit to pay a regular bill. A sort code is a number which represents a bank branch and intended for internal processing. Every company that does financial transactions can benefit from having a SORT Codes database to verify it's payments, minimizing the risk of mistyped or incorrect data.
It identifies both the bank, and the branch where the account is held. ?? which acts as a one-stop-shop for the payments industry.