The UK bank Barclays experienced an outage on the day of the tax and pay cheque deadlines. Payments into and out of accounts and online banking were unavailable as the Barclays app went down. Additionally affected are in-person branches.
Following a major IT outage at the bank on Friday, January 31, Barclays Bank customers cannot access the web app and online banking, make payments to and from their accounts, or contact customer support. Additionally, the bank advised consumers not to try to make a payment again if they have already been unable to do so.
Reports of problems impacting UK consumers started just after 5 a.m. on January 31 and have stayed mostly consistent since, peaking at around 7 and 9:20 a.m., according to Ookla’s Downdetector service. Barclays apologised to everyone who has experienced problems with its services due to the current outage in a statement sent to social media network X (previously Twitter).
“We’re having some problems with some of our systems today – we’re sorry about this and we’re working hard to fix the issue,” said a spokesperson.
“You may have trouble using some features in our app, Online Banking, as well as payments in and out of your accounts – we’re also unable to help you over the telephone or our Message Us service.
“You can still use your cards and cash machines as normal. Although this goes against reports from customers, some of whom are saying that they have had their cards repeatedly declined”.
Due to their widespread use by both businesses and consumers, banks and other financial services organisations are particularly susceptible to IT disruption, and these outages are not uncommon.
Following a supply chain incident that was ultimately linked to a power outage at FIS Global, a third-party supplier of fintech services like payment processing that works with Capital One, customers at Capital One in the US were locked out of online banking services for days earlier this month.
Anxiety about tax returns
Self-assessment tax returns are due on Friday, and several clients have reported that the disruption has prevented them from paying HMRC. Millions of people have yet to file their self-assessment tax returns, HMRC has previously warned, and those who fail to do so might face fines of up to £100.
Nonetheless, HMRC stated in a statement to the BBC that it was “working closely” with Barclays to minimise any negative effects on clients submitting their self-assessments. A representative also said:
“Our services are working as normal, so customers will be able to file their returns on time. Today’s issues will not result in late payment penalties as they don’t apply until 1st March.”
In a statement, Barclays said: “We’re in direct contact with HMRC and they are aware of the technical issues with our system. We will ensure that no customer is left out of pocket because of delayed payments caused by this incident.”
Customers using banking apps have previously experienced issues accessing funds or making payments.
In November, PayPal experienced a brief but significant outage that affected users worldwide across several of its products, including its bitcoin services and the well-known US peer-to-peer payment tool Venmo.
In June of last year, payment issues with some of the largest UK banks affected thousands of clients. HSBC, Nationwide, Barclays, and Virgin Money were among the banks hit by problems with a system that makes payments between individuals and businesses easier.