NS&I has come under fire over failures that are piling on the agony for bereaved families chasing missing Premium Bonds. Errors and delays in tracing accounts at the trusted savings institution have exacerbated heartache, it has been claimed.
Families Share Their Ordeal
Kate Constable told the Guardian about the time it took to claim £46,000 in premium bonds belonging to her late mother. “It has been more than a year of hell,” she said. Under NS&I rules, anyone claiming a savings pot of more than £5,000 must obtain probate first.
Constable describes NS&I as “impossible to deal with”. She said: “They only deal in paper … No one can tell you anything helpful. It’s hugely frustrating. The money is my dad’s inheritance. He has Alzheimer’s and is in a care home. We had to take out a loan to cover his fees.”
Another saver reported contacting NS&I with details of five accounts belonging to their late father, which appeared to contain about £55,000. “They told me none of these existed but another, containing £12,000, did,” the saver said. “Of the five accounts, two were dated from 2015 and 2016 so may have been closed, but the others were from 2023, 2024 and 2025 and a statement for the 2025 account arrived in the post after my father had passed away, so was obviously valid at the time he died.”
Expert Analysis
Duncan Stevens, chief executive of account tracing experts Gretel, commented: “We’re seeing the perfect storm of what happens when old data, historic system migrations and a high burden of proof collide. Being over 160 years old, NS&I’s records will have moved through multiple systems and formats. A family may be asked to give evidence of ownership of an account they did not know existed, don’t have paperwork for, or where the underlying records contain incomplete or incorrect information.”
NS&I Responds
An NS&I spokesperson said: “We sincerely apologise to anyone making a bereavement claim who has not received the customer service that they should expect, particularly at such a sensitive time.” NS&I apologised for inquiries taking longer than planned due to the backlog of claims and stated: “We have brought in extra staff to support this work to ensure we return to processing bereavement claims in our normal timeframe by autumn 2026.”
