Taxpayers may face big bill for NS&I mourning blunder

National Savings and Investments (NS&I) is in talks with the government over a potential bailout package worth millions of pounds.

It is understood an update will be given by ministers on Thursday following a report by the Daily Telegraph that the Treasury-backed bank needs taxpayers’ money to help compensate customers for alleged failings in managing their cash.

The newspaper said the sum could amount to a bill of £400m.

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account for the majority of the 37,000 claims received by NS&I.

Bereaved families, who claim they haven’t received the money they deserve, account for the majority of the 37,000 claims received by NS&I. Many of these claims are reportedly several years old.

The bank, which offers a range of savings and investments to more than 24 million customers, including more than 22 million premium bond holders, has apologised for the lack of customer service but has not yet commented on the size of the potential risk of redress and compensation to taxpayers.

The government has not yet commented, although Pensions Minister Torsten Bell will address the issue in a statement to MPs later on Thursday.

NS&I is not immune to negative publicity.

In February, a committee of MPs accused the government of being “completely confident” of the £3 billion digital transformation project despite numerous challenges and delays, which it also said had exposed taxpayers to additional risk.

The Public Accounts Committee announced that it was not confident that a plan designed to modernise NS&I’s operations and measurably reduce its operating costs could be successfully accomplished.

MPs found that NS&I had no workable plan and claimed the bank lacked the skills to deliver it.