NS&I responds to Treasury Committee
22 Jan 2021 01:51 PM
Following various concerns about National Savings and Investments (NS&I), Rt Hon. Mel Stride MP, Chair of the Treasury Committee, wrote to its Chief Executive Ian Ackerley last month.
In his response, published today, Mr Ackerley:
- Apologised to NS&I customers who experienced poor service last year
- Explained that NS&I has paused the planned transition to paperless Premium Bonds prize payments
- Said that NS&I is implementing a detailed operational recovery plan to reduce call waiting times, address complaints more rapidly, and reduce the backlog of customer queries
- Set out NS&I’s rationale for ending payments of Premium Bonds prizes by cheque, which will be delayed until the spring
Chair's comments
Commenting on the correspondence, Mr Stride said:
“An exodus of savers from NS&I when it cut interest rates in November was foreseeable and so it is disappointing that the average time to answer a customer’s call was 19 minutes that month.
“I would like to thank Mr Ackerley for his frank response, but the damage that may have been done to NS&I’s reputation over the last few months is worrying.
“NS&I has a big role to play in helping the Government fund the costs of the coronavirus recovery scheme and it will need to work hard to win back customers."
Further information