NS&I embroiled in row over missing payments for bereaved families | Personal Finance | Finance
The Government-backed National Savings and Investments (NS&I) has been embroiled in a row over missing payments to the families of deceased savers. The bereaved loved ones have reportedly called in lawyers in a bid to receive the cash that they are due.
NS&I has been accused of losing track of investments, delaying payouts and withholding Premium Bond prizes. The families receiving legal support are said to have racked up thousands in additional costs due to NS&I failures. Some have reportedly had to pay fines to HMRC after receiving wrong information from NS&I call handlers.
According to The Telegraph, others have missed out on home purchases and claim they have been denied thousands in lost interest due to delays in payments.
Compensation over customer service failures could stretch into the hundreds of millions of pounds, the newspaper understands.
It’s suggested this would likely be funded by the taxpayer.
Shadow Business and Trade Secretary Andrew Griffith said: “Poor performance and a botched digital transformation mean that NS&I are short-changing savers at a time when raising money for the Government has never been more needed.
“Delivering a simple set of Government-backed savings products should not be this hard. The private sector does that every day.”
NS&I is backed by the Treasury and overseen by Rachel Reeves as an “executive agency” of the Chancellor. It was originally known as the Post Office Savings Bank when it was launched in 1861.
More than 24 million customers save with the bank, according to its website.
It states: “Most banks guarantee your savings up to £120,000. We’re the only UK savings provider that secures 100% of your savings above this amount. That’s because we have the unique backing of HM Treasury – something nobody else can offer.
“We don’t have shareholders. As we’re part of the Government, the largest stakeholder in NS&I is the UK taxpayer.”
An NS&I spokesman said: “We recognise that dealing with bereavement can be challenging and would like to apologise to anyone who has not received the customer service from NS&I that they should expect, particularly at such a sensitive time.”
