Barclays has advised customers to contact food banks after a major IT glitch left some locked out of their accounts – with the disruption likely to continue today.
The bank has warned that some customers may see an outdated balance, and payments made or received may not show following the initial outage on online and mobile banking.
Customers using the app on Sunday morning were greeted with a message headed: “Thank you for bearing with us”.
The message said Barclays was working to correct the user’s balance to ensure it shows all payments and the issue was “taking longer than we’d like to fix”.
The company’s status check website listed the Barclays and Barclaycard apps, online banking and services, cards, payments and transfers, branches and telephone banking as areas affected by the IT glitch.
The disruption started on Friday – on what was payday for many British workers and the deadline for self-assessment tax returns.
The bank has apologised to those affected and promised no one would be left out of pocket. The outage is not believed to be related to a cyber attack.
But Barclays’ handling of complaints has provoked an angry reaction online.
Customers have posted on X that they were unable to buy shopping for themselves and their young children, pay their bills or withdraw cash.
But the bank insists its ATMs are unaffected.
In a statement after the complaints online, Barclays said: “We are proactively contacting vulnerable customers to offer dedicated help and support. Their calls are being prioritised on our telephone lines meaning their calls get answered first.
“Our ATMs are unaffected by this technical issue so customers can withdraw cash and use their cards to make payments.”
Barclays later added: “Some may continue to see an outdated balance, and payments made or received may not show. Customers should not try to make the payment again.
“We will ensure that no impacted customer is left out of pocket.
“We are keeping our call centres open for longer this weekend and we will be proactively contacting customers who may be vulnerable.”
Bank’s response criticised as ‘triggering’
On social media site X, in response to one user who said her household “has no access to money”, the Barclays UK Help account asked: “Are there any friends or family who can offer support?”
When she said she didn’t and criticised the reply as “so triggering”, the bank’s X account posted links to the Trussell Trust, a charity that runs food banks, and Citizens Advice, which offers help for a range of problems.
Further afield, David Marsh and his new wife, from Cumbria, told Sky News they had been locked out of their account while on their honeymoon in Australia.
And Karen Bannister, 52, from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, said she had transferred all her money into her Barclays account to pay her bills but the funds never arrived.
“My card got declined at the supermarket which was completely embarrassing and by 9pm I was without heating because my gas had run out,” she said.
‘My four-month-old is out of milk powder’
One mother said she was unable to buy milk for her baby due to the glitch.
“My four-month-old is out of milk powder and screaming for a feed and I still haven’t been paid,” she said in a post on X.
“I’ve been in tears for hours.”
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Another customer said: “Due to you Barclays I’m left without money had a food shop due for delivery this morning which now will get cancelled, leave my four kids with no food it’s a joke as [it is] my money.”
One asked: “How can I eat and keep warm if I can’t get to my funds?”
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And another said: “Well I’ve just had to put all my shopping back in Tesco – never been so embarrassed in my life… as can’t access my own money.”
HMRC ‘working closely’ with bank
In a statement, HMRC said it is “working closely” with Barclays to minimise any impact on those submitting their self-assessments.
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An HMRC spokesperson said: “Our services are working as normal, so customers will still have been able to file their returns on time.
“Also, the issues will not result in late payment penalties as they don’t apply until 1 March.”
