Following the chaos of an IT outage, Barclays will pay millions in compensation

Following three days of payment issues due to an IT outage, Barclays plans to reimburse its customers

After more than half of its payments failed due to a three-day IT outage, Barclays will compensate customers up to 7.5 million.

On Friday, January 31, the IT incident began at approximately 9:45 a.m. and continued until the end of the weekend. On Sunday, February 2, the systems resumed their regular operations.

Though they could still use their debit cards and make ATM withdrawals, Barclays customers were unable to access online or mobile banking during this time. During that time, "severe degradation" to its UK mainframe caused about 56% of its payments to fail.

Barclays UK chief executive Vim Maru stated in a letter to the Treasury Select Committee, which was looking into IT outages among UK banks, that the bank is making a "proactive remediation effort" to identify all impacted customers.

No customer will incur any financial losses as a result of this incident, according to Maru, who also stated that they are giving priority to efforts to identify and assist "customers with vulnerable characteristics."

During the past two years, Barclays has experienced 33 outages of this type, which are estimated to have impacted 31.3 million customers.

The total amount of money the bank has reimbursed clients for IT errors over the past two years will increase to £12.5 million with this round of compensation.

Customers who attempted to complete their HMRC Self Assessment tax returns encountered some difficulties due to the outage's timing. On January 31, the day of the IT outage, the filing deadline was set.

Maru informed MPs that Barclays admits that the outage caused its customers "loss or distress and inconvenience" "through no fault of their own," which supports the need for reimbursement.

"We anticipate paying out between 5 million and 7point 5 million to our Barclays UK customers for any inconvenience or distress caused by this incident," the CEO wrote.

"We are still addressing the impact to make sure that no client or customer will incur any financial losses as a result of the incident.

Have there been any other bank outages?

Although Barclays is among the most prominent recent examples, it is by no means the only UK bank to experience outages in recent years due to the serious disruption caused by its IT issues.

Unplanned technology and systems outages have disrupted the services of nine of the UK's leading banks and building societies over the past two years, according to the Treasury Select Committee.

From January 2023 to February 2025, there were at least 158 distinct banking IT failure incidents, resulting in at least 803 hours of customer disruption, or 33 days.

Below is a comprehensive list of UK banks and building societies that experienced outages during the previous two years.

Source: Select Committee on Treasury.

Dame Meg Hillier MP, the chair of the Treasury Select Committee, stated that people who are "living paycheck to paycheck" may find it "terrifying" to lose access to banking services on payday.

"The fact that there have been enough outages to fill an entire month within the last two years shows that customers' frustrations are completely valid," she said, expressing concern about the frequency of outages.

The truth is that this data demonstrates that technical issues occur in even the most prosperous banks and building societies. It's crucial that they respond quickly and make sure clients are updated at all times.

When a bank goes out, will I get paid?

You may be entitled to compensation if an IT outage causes your banking services to be interrupted.

As previously indicated, Barclays intends to reimburse consumers impacted by their most recent outage up to 7.5 million, and numerous other banks have also made some payments.

NatWest has paid 348,000 to customers over the past two years, while Nationwide has paid out 348,000.

You might not receive any compensation because different banks will have different eligibility requirements that you must meet.

How to get paid following an IT outage that affects banking apps.

If an outage prevented you from using your bank account as you typically would, it might be worthwhile to get in touch with customer service to inquire about potential compensation.

Speak with your banks.

Making a complaint to your bank ought to be your first course of action. If circumstances beyond your control have left you in a worse situation, your bank's customer service representatives ought to be able to help you understand your options. Should everything proceed smoothly, they might be able to resolve the issue right away.

Some banks' customer service, however, is not very helpful. You should get in touch with the Financial Ombudsman if you believe your bank did not sufficiently look into or settle your dispute.

Getting in touch with the Financial Ombudsman.

The government established a free service called the Financial Ombudsman to handle complaints between financial companies and their clients.

Customers with issues with their bank accounts, payments, investments, mortgages, and a host of other issues can get assistance from the organization. They are expected to listen to both sides of an argument impartially and without favoring one over the other.

After you give the Ombudsman your information, they will look into your case and present you with a decision that you can accept or reject.

If you are satisfied with the decision (i.e. E. The Ombudsman may then mandate that your bank pay you damages if they uphold your complaint.

If you accept the ombudsman's decision, you probably won't be able to take the case to court.

You have the option to reject the Ombudsman's decision if you don't think it's satisfactory. They will no longer be able to assist you further, though, as your engagement with them will come to an end.

The ombudsman will not be involved in your case, but you will still have the choice to go to court.