UK banks had a poor run of availability in 2025. One high-street bank's systems failed across a payday weekend, blocking transfers and leaving balances wrong. Parliament's Treasury Committee later published data showing hundreds of hours of unplanned outages across major banks over two years.
Practical impact on a small business
- Payroll submitted on time but not paid on time
- Supplier payments missing terms and triggering charges
- Card payments declining at the till
- No visibility of balances when you need to make decisions
What to have in place
- A second business account at a different bank, with enough float to cover a week of essentials. This is the single most effective mitigation.
- Run payroll a day earlier than the payment date so a one-day failure isn't a missed payday.
- A backup card machine on a different provider or network, even a mobile reader in a drawer.
- Keep the paperwork. Banks generally compensate for outages if you can show the cost.
This one isn't really an IT job, but it is a continuity job, and it comes up in every business continuity conversation we have.