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NS&I boss awarded bonus despite customer service shambles

bonus banks national savings and investment
bonus banks national savings and investment

The National Savings & Investments chief executive received a £25,000 “performance-related” bonus last year – despite overseeing vast cuts in savings deals and a customer service shambles.

It paid the sum to boss Ian Ackerley in September for his performance throughout the pandemic in 2020-21, even though he missed a number of key targets for the year, the latest annual accounts showed.

Bonuses came on top of Mr Ackerley’s £200,000-a-year salary and pension benefits worth £75,000. His total annual remuneration is valued at around £300,000 for 2021-22 – the greatest of any executive on the NS&I board.

Critics called it a “dismaying” use of public money. The bank, first set up in 1861 as the Post Office Savings Bank, is Government-backed and taxpayers are the principal stakeholders.

It comes 18 months after Mr Ackerley said he was “sorry” to MPs on the Treasury Select Committee for failing savers.
NS&I customers faced major issues trying to contact the provider by post or telephone during the Covid crisis. Savers rushed to withdraw money following a raft of cuts in savings deals.

In November 2020, customers were forced to wait almost 20 minutes on the phone on average before speaking to customer service. Normal levels saw saver queries resolved in around half a minute. NS&I’s call centre capacity fell 60pc during the year due to staffing issues caused by lockdown.

This followed hefty cuts in some of the provider’s most popular savings deals to as low as 0.1pc, from more than 1pc. This created a rush of customers wanting to move their money just as staff levels were reduced.

Mr Ackerley defended the cuts at the time. He said rival high street providers had also cut rates. meaning the state-backed institution would overshoot its £35bn fundraising target, set by HM Treasury, if it remained the highest payer.

However, NS&I undershot the target by more than £10bn, raising just £23.8bn in deposits by the end of the financial year.
Anna Bowes, of Savings Champion, a comparison site, said savers who could not access money during the pandemic would be “dismayed and furious” over the  bonus.

Writing in the latest annual report, Mr Ackerley said customer service had been restored to normal levels.

An NS&I spokesman said: “NS&I’s staff, including directors, are eligible for performance-related pay based on their individual performance and on the performance of NS&I as a whole in meeting the organisation’s objectives.”