The data, compiled by the Treasury Committee, reveals that between January 2023 and February 2025, there were at least 158 separate IT failures across institutions such as Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Nationwide, Santander, NatWest, Danske Bank, Bank of Ireland, and Allied Irish Bank. However, the reported figures exclude more recent outages, including a series of disruptions affecting Barclays between January 31 and February 2, as well as several banks on February 28. The Committee is seeking further information on these additional incidents.
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Barclays was the most affected, with 33 outages reported, including one that caused 56% of online payments to fail. The bank is now preparing to compensate customers, estimating between £5 million and £7.5 million in payouts. HSBC and Santander followed closely, each recording 32 outages during the period, while Nationwide, NatWest, and Lloyds reported 18, 13, and 12 disruptions, respectively.
Meg Hillier, Chair of the Treasury Select Committee, expressed concern over the impact of these failures, particularly for families relying on timely access to their accounts. “For families and individuals living paycheck to paycheck, losing access to banking services on payday can be a terrifying experience,” Hillier said. She commended the banks that have compensated their customers but urged others to reconsider their response and improve the support offered to those affected by such technical issues.
