Barclays Bank has issued an apology to its customers following a technical glitch that disrupted services and payments over the weekend for millions of people. The bank confirmed that the issue has now been resolved, and all delayed payments are being processed.
For days, affected customers were viewing outdated balances and payments were not being shown. In response to queries about compensation, Barclays has said: “We are very sorry for any disruption and will ensure that no impacted customer is left out of pocket.”
The days-long outage at the UK’s leading bank has been attributed to an IT malfunction rather than a cyber attack. The disruption, however, has had a broad impact on millions of customers, leaving critical tasks like paying bills and filing tax returns in disarray.
A spokesperson for Barclays stated: “The technical issue impacting our customers on Friday and Saturday has been resolved and delayed payments processed. Customers can use our app, bank online, call us, use their cards and withdraw cash.”
“We are working on bringing balances up to date for some of our customers and addressing any outstanding issues,” the spokesperson said. They added: “We are keeping our call centres open for longer this weekend and we will be proactively contacting customers who may be vulnerable.”
Customers affected by the Barclays Bank outage, which began on Friday, have been reassured that they will not face fines from HMRC if the IT glitch meant they were unable to pay their tax bill before the deadline, set for January 31 at midnight, reports the Express.
As many Brits received their first payday since Christmas Day on January 31, which also marked the HMRC self-assessment tax return deadline, a significant IT glitch at Barclays was wreaking havoc on account holders. Into the weekend, numerous customers reported difficulties in accessing funds and an inability to make or receive payments.
In light of these issues, HMRC announced that those affected by the outage who missed the midnight deadline for tax returns will not be penalised with the standard £100 fine.
Civil servant Paola Mereu, 39, told the Daily Mail about her family’s dire situation after their house purchase failed due to the banking error, leaving them without a home. “We drove down to (West Sussex on Friday) and we had all our things in a moving van and were waiting outside and unfortunately, around one o’clock, my solicitor calls and says ‘Barclays is having some issues and we are unable to complete the sale’.
“So we sold our house – we had the money from that – but we were unable to complete the other part of the sale, so we are essentially homeless.” Mereu mentioned that her family was forced to stay with her mother in London, while their possessions remained in a moving van parked outside.
Barclays advises customers who believe they have a compensation claim to get in touch with the bank directly.