More than 700 self-employed or non-employed contributors had direct debits incorrectly cancelled when some banks misread a notice from the Revenue Service.
A few weeks later, nearly 1,700 people had social security payments taken out of their accounts prematurely. The banks involved are unknown, and therefore could not be contacted for comment, but Scott Bloomfield, head of service delivery at the Revenue Service, apologised on behalf of the States.
He said the first problem arose when social security contribution payments for the self-employed and non-employed were taken by direct debit on 15 January 2026 to cover outstanding amounts owed for 2025.
‘As this was the final payment for contributions owed in 2025, these were marked as “final payment” in the reference,’ said Mr Bloomfield.
‘Some banks, but not all, took this to mean that the customers’ direct debit should be cancelled, resulting in 733 cancelled direct debits.
‘We will be implementing some changes to avoid this happening in the future. We have also written to anyone affected by this and advised them what they need to do.’
Readers got in touch with the Guernsey Press following the second problem, which occurred last month.
Unlike the first error, the second took money out of accounts when it should not have been taken, and some reported temporarily facing an unplanned overdraft as a result.
‘A total of 1,663 people who are either self-employed or non-employed had their February social security payment contribution taken three days earlier than planned due to human error. We apologise for any inconvenience this caused,’ said Mr Bloomfield.
There were reports of some social security direct debit payments not being taken at all by the time they were due last month, but there have been no reports of problems this month, and the Revenue Service is understood to be confident that the system is running smoothly again.