Former HM Revenue and Customs permanent secretary Sir Jim Harra has been appointed as chief executive of National Savings & Investments in a shakeup following the organisation’s admission that hundreds of millions of pounds may not have been paid out to the families of customers who died.
Today, NS&I – which is effectively a state-owned bank – confirmed that up to 37,500 bereavement claims with a total value of up to £476m may not have been paid out as they should have been.
NS&I said the errors happened because the search process used when handling a bereavement claim failed to identify all NS&I products for a deceased individual.
Harra’s appointment comes almost exactly a year since he steppped down from the helm of HMRC. He replaces longstanding NS&I staffer Dax Harkins, who had been the organisation’s chief executive since 2023.
In a statement to parliament this afternoon, pensions minister Torsten Bell said Harra would serve as NS&I chief exec on an interim basis “to provide a fresh start for NS&I’s next phase of development”.
Bell told MPs that NS&I has hired 100 extra staff and put in place a dedicated programme team to track down payments that should have been made .
“I have asked them to publish a delivery plan in May, detailing how they will take forward this work to reunite funds with their owners,” he said.
He said the majority of problem cases related to the period from 2008-2025.
Harra’s appointment as interim chief executive is effective from today, Bell said
“As well as providing leadership to the organisation, Sir Jim will undertake a review over the next three months in detail of the background to this tracing problem and to set out what lessons must be learned for NS&I going forward,” he said.
The minister also referenced problems with NS&I’s ongoing business-transformation programme, which is running four years late and £1.3bn over budget.
In a statement, NS&I said it was “extremely sorry” for the payment errors and is working hard to ensure everybody affected is paid what is owed to them.
”Families, beneficiaries and deceased customers' estates do not need to take any immediate action. NS&I will contact estates that are affected and will publish further information for the beneficiaries of those estates in due course,” it said.