A woman was forced to wait nearly six years to receive premium bonds belonging to her dead father. 

Tracy McGuire-Brown said her experience getting the £2,000 in bonds from NS&I was “horrible” and “ridiculous”. 

The 61-year-old, from Newbury in Berkshire, said she dealt with a “very long and drawn-out” process, eventually receiving what she was entitled to last month.

She said her father died in 2020 and she contacted NS&I several times about his premium bond holdings. 

She told PA that it wasn’t until 2024 that she started to get some movement from the savings platform, and the process started. 

The former care home manager said she eventually received a letter suggesting that before the money was used she should pay off any debts or funeral expenses. 

She added: “My father had been dead five years by then, I just found that was the final insult.

“It was £2,000, we weren’t talking hundreds of thousands… it was just ridiculous, it was a horrible time.

“It’s just frightening, really. To make it so difficult and so insensitive is just appalling, I think.” 

After complaining, she received £150 in compensation. 

What’s going on with NS&I?  

Yesterday, it emerged that NS&I, which is backed by the Treasury, is preparing to pay out hundreds of millions of pounds after failures meant that bereaved families were missing out on savings pots.

Pensions minister Torsten Bell said NS&I has reviewed more than 34 million customer records and found around 37,500 customers with up to £476m in deposits had been affected.

Families, beneficiaries and deceased customers’ estates do not need to take immediate action and will be contacted by NS&I if they are affected. 

An NS&I spokesperson said: “We recognise that dealing with bereavement can be challenging and would like to apologise to anyone who has not received the customer service from NS&I that they should expect, particularly at such a sensitive time.”