Have you struggled to get your hands on Pensioner Bonds?

Problems with the launch of Pensioner Bonds were also raised in parliament. Both MPs and Peers asked questions and received written answers.

On 26 January 2015, Sammy Wilson MP asked: “how many complaints [have been] received concerning the inability of people who have applied for pensioner bonds to have their applications dealt with owing to breakdowns in the website of the agency handling the sale.

Andrea Leadsom answered (on 3 February):
“The 65+ “Pensioner” Bond launch has had the biggest opening sales of any retail financial product in Britain’s modern history. In advance of the launch NS&I doubled the size of their call centres, and have now added further staff to help manage the high call volumes. National Savings & Investment’s website is operating normally. This remains the easiest route by which to invest and provides immediate assurance that an application has been received. Customers can also invest by making a postal application. NS&I publish six monthly total complaint data on nsandi.com.”

Also on 26 January, Lord Naseby tabled a similar question in the House of Lords:
“To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will undertake a review of the difficulties experienced at the launch of National Savings and Investments pensioner bonds with particular attention to the failure of the website.”

It was answered by Lord Deighton on 9 February:
“The introduction of the 65+ “Pensioner” Bond has seen the biggest sale of any retail financial product in Britain’s modern history, with over £7.5 billion sold to date. Demand in the first few days was exceptionally high but tens of thousands of savers did successfully purchase bonds during this period, and hundreds of thousands have done so since. National Savings & Investments (NS&I) was quick to respond to the issues faced by some customers in the opening days, for example by adding further call centre staff to manage the high volume of calls. The website is now fully operational, calls are being answered with minimal waiting times, and NS&I now have the capacity to field remaining demand pressures.

“Following this unprecedented demand, the government has also extended the availability of the bonds up to 15 May, to ensure all pensioners aged 65 and over who want to benefit from these bonds will have time to do so.

“Low interest rates have played an important part in stimulating the recovery. But there are those – especially pensioners – who rely on a reasonable rate of interest on their savings. These new savings bonds pay a market leading rate and are designed to help support those who rely on their savings in retirement.”