Overview
- National Savings & Investments, the Treasury‑backed savings body behind Premium Bonds, says a large bereavement backlog has left roughly 37,000 claims unpaid worth more than £470 million.
- Pensions Minister Torsten Bell told MPs that no customer money has gone missing and that families will receive the full amounts owed.
- NS&I says it is contacting affected customers, arranging payouts in resolved cases and offering goodwill payments, and it notes it is not part of the Government’s Tell Us Once service so executors must contact it directly.
- One widow who had waited for more than £18,000 from her late husband’s Premium Bonds has been told the money will be paid to her, with an apology and a goodwill payment for distress.
- Leadership has changed after the failures, with chief executive Dax Harkins resigning last month and former HMRC boss Sir Jim Harra now taking over at NS&I.