Minister says government will pay some compensation as bereaved families report premium bond delays

Bell says NS&I has reviewed over 34m customer records, and it points to up to a maximum of some £470m in deposits – and around 37,500 customers – affected.

This number is likely to fall in future and represents less than 0.2% of NS&I’s customers, he says, but “it is still far too many”.

“It is right that NS&I is apologising today.”

He says the government’s priorities are now three-fold – first, that the causes of the tracing issues are addressed and a solution is found.

Second, is to reunite beneficiaries of late customers with “any funds that NS&I holds”.

“These deposits belong to customers – returning them in no way presents an additional liability to the taxpayer”.

He says the savings are “100% safe” – the issue is tracing, not the security of funds.

Bell now says additional staff has been brought on to help track and deliver the savings, including interest.

Work will be done to ensure that “compensation where appropriate will be paid”, he says, with the onus on the bank not customers.