Disruption to Barclays services likely to continue following IT issues

Disruption to Barclays banking services is likely to continue into Sunday following an IT glitch, with some customers still experiencing issues with payments.

The bank has warned that some people may see an outdated balance, and payments made or received may not show following the initial outage on Friday.

Barclays has apologised for the issues, saying it is facing “ongoing technical issues that are impacting our customers’ accounts” and that it will ensure no customer is “left out of pocket”.

The PA news agency understands the outage has been caused by a technical issue and is currently not believed to be related to a cyber attack.

The outage began on Friday, the same day as January payday for many British workers and the deadline for self-assessment tax returns.

On Saturday, thousands of customers claimed they were still experiencing issues with mobile banking, online banking and paying bills, according to outage tracker Down Detector.

Barclays said that its ATMs remain unaffected and that customers can withdraw cash and use their cards to make payments.

In a statement, HMRC said it is “working closely” with Barclays to minimise any impact on those submitting their self-assessments and that HMRC services are “working as normal”.

Any issues related to the Barclays outage will not result in late HMRC payment penalties as these do not apply until March 1, a spokesperson added.

Among those affected by the outage was civil servant Paola Mereu, 39, who said her family had been left homeless after the payment for their new house had not gone through.

Mrs Mereu sold her home in Uxbridge, where she lived with her husband and two daughters aged one and seven, and the family were supposed to move into their new house in West Sussex on Friday.

She told PA: “We drove down to (West Sussex on Friday) and we had all our things in a moving van and were waiting outside and unfortunately, around one o’clock, my solicitor calls and says Barclays is having some issues and we are unable to complete the sale.

“So we sold our house – we had the money from that – but we were unable to complete the other part of the sale so we are essentially homeless.”

“It took us so long to get this dream house and yesterday was meant to be the happiest day of our lives and instead, we ended up homeless,” she added.

Mrs Mereu said her family are currently staying with her mother in London with the moving van containing all their belongings parked on the driveway.

Frustrated customers have been reaching out to Barclays support via social media.

“Due to you Barclays I’m left without money had a food shop due for delivery this morning that now will get cancelled, leave my four kids with no food it’s a joke as (it is) my money,” one X user claimed.

On social media, Barclays has advised customers experiencing difficulties accessing their money to seek support from friends and family and to contact food banks.

In response to a user on X who said her whole household had no access to their money, as both her and her husband bank with Barclays, the bank’s UK help X account replied suggesting she contact loved ones who may be able to offer support and with links to a food bank website.

In a statement on Saturday evening, a spokesperson for the bank said: “We’re extremely sorry for the ongoing technical issues that are impacting our customers’ accounts and are working hard to fix the issue.

“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.

“Customers can use their cards and withdraw cash, use our app and online banking, and as soon as these remaining issues are resolved, we’ll let our customers know.

“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.”