Child benefit not paid leaving hundreds of parents fuming over missing cash
HUNDREDS of parents are fuming after a technical error at TSB Bank has left them unable to access their child benefit payment and other cash.
Upset mums and dads took to social media this morning to raise their concerns, with one sharing how she is now unable to give her son cash for a school trip.
Another said she had a lot of bills due out of her account this morning and has now been left with “mega anxiety” over the issue.
While a third said: “You have ruined my entire holiday. I will take this up when I return. This is absolutely unacceptable.”
A fourth added: “Not been paid, my son’s birthday is tomorrow and my bills are due this is a nightmare bank.”
The high street lender, which has over five million customers in the UK, apologised to customers and said it was working to “fix the issue”.
Around 307 customers logged complaints on Downdetector with 70% of those complaints relating to issues about transferring funds.
TSB spokesperson told The Sun: “We’re aware of an issue with some BACS payments not yet showing on customers’ accounts.
“We are working on fixing this and will provide an update as soon as possible.”
It comes as parents are dealing with extra costs as their children return to school following the summer break.
Child Benefit is usually paid every four weeks on either a Monday or Tuesday by HMRC.
The benefit is worth £25.60 a week for your eldest child, and then £16.95 a week for any subsequent children.
For a family with two children who qualify, this adds up to £2,212.60 a year. For just one child, you get £1,331.20 a year.
HMRC has told claimants on X, formally known as Twitter, that if they have not yet received their monthly payment to contact their bank first.
They added: “We are aware of this and understand this relates to issues certain banking providers are experiencing.”
Back in June, customers faced a similar issue when the tax office flagged an issue with the system that sends the cash directly to bank accounts.
It is important to note that this issue is related to TSB and not HMRC, so any issues relating to a delayed payment should go to the bank.
However, it is not just parents and guardians impacted by the issue with hundreds of other customers also not seeing cash land in their accounts.
How to claim Child Benefit
Child benefit is worth up to £1,331 a year for your first or only child and up to £881 a year for additional children.
This works out at £102.40 every four weeks or £25.60 a week for your first child and £67.80 every 4 weeks or £16.95 a week for their siblings.
There is no limit on the number of children that can be claimed for.
Applying is straightforward and can be done in minutes at gov.uk or through the HMRC app.
Parents with a newborn baby should make a claim online as soon as possible and could then receive their first payment in as little as three days.
You can also backdate claims for up to three months.
Parents can make a claim and then choose to opt out of receiving Child Benefit payments can still receive National Insurance credits if one parent is not working.
National Insurance credits build up your entitlement to the state pension.
Over a million of its customers use online banking with the service becoming increasingly popular as high street banks cut down on the number of physical branches they operate.
TSB is set to close 36 banks over the coming months, leading to the loss of hundreds of jobs.
The first of the 36 sites closed on September 3, when branches in Bedworth, Banff and Stornoway shut their doors for good.
The closures will continue through to May next year.
Can I claim compensation for an outage?
As this is an issue with TSB and not HMRC you must log an issue with the bank.
Banks aren’t obliged to pay compensation to customers if there’s been an outage or if they’ve experienced technical issues.
But you might be entitled to some money back depending on how much the disruption affected you.
You’ll have to present evidence of how the outage negatively impacted you, including any extra costs incurred through late payment fees for instance.
You should make a note of when you were unable to access the services and the names of the people you spoke to at the bank that suffered the outage.
You can find more details about how to complain to TSB on its website.
If your bank doesn’t resolve your complaint, you can take your case to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
It is an independent body which will resolve any issues based on what it thinks is “fair and reasonable” depending on the circumstances of the case.
The service can resolve your issue over the phone, by email or post depending on what best suits you.
In the case of an IT system outage at a bank, the FOS says any compensation you may receive will be dependent on your circumstances and whether you lost any money as a result.
If it finds the bank was at fault, you may see any fees, charges or fines reimbursed.
How to check if your bank is down
THERE are a few different ways to find out if your bank is experiencing an outage.
Senior consumer reporter Olivia Marshall explains how you can check.
If you’re trying to send money to someone, or you just want to check if you have enough cash for a coffee, finding your online banking is down can be a real pain.
Most banks have a dedicated news page on their website to show service problems, including internet banking, mobile apps, ATMs, debit cards and credit cards.
You can also check on any future work they have planned and what it might mean for you.
Plus, you can check websites such as Down Detector, which will tell you whether other people are experiencing problems with a particular company online.