Cheques 5 days to clear ?

I have a small business a/c with Ulster bank for the past 5/6 years
I have very rarely been overdrawn normally have a balance of circa
8 / 10,000 in the a/c
I pay my ( mostly foreign) suppliers by TT after lodging money to my account every couplre of days. Last week UB phones me to tell me that it will now take 5 working days for all cheques to clear that I lodge. This is going to cause serious disrubtion for supplier payments and up until now the money has been available for TT payments next day.
I have never had a bounced cheque from a customer.
Has anyone had the same problem?
Am I likely I get better terms from a different bank?
Turnover is about 500,000 p.a so I'm not sure if Bank of Scotland will be interested
I am determined to change if it makes any sense as this unjustified change of policy move from UB has got my back up

Im with TSB and they take 5 working days ( 1week) to clear cheques as well. Probably all the same!
R

This is common practice with all banks as far as i know. It's how they make their money. If it's an UB to UB cheque it will clear the same day. I have a UB business a/c also and it's been like this for as long as I remember. It not something that's been introduced as a change of policy recently.