Robin Sundt, the trustee of Clockwork Charitable Trust in Surrey, explained an unexpected bank closure had left the organisation without a bank account for 29 days.
The Clockwork Trust offers support and information to young adults in Oxted and the surrounding district suffering with depression and anxiety, with the aim of helping relieve this suffering.
Some small charities are left waiting months to access their funds because their bank has closed their accounts, and often with little or no explanation/ warning.
In September, Barclays told Clockwork they had to switch the type of account they had which the charity agreed. However, two weeks later they discovered their existing account had just been closed.
All their direct debits were cancelled, online banking was blocked and the charity was locked out of its own money.
Speaking on the impact it has had, Mr Pundit told BBC Money Box: “We have now been without an account for 29 days.
“They told us it could be up to eight weeks, but I need to pay more bills. I don’t have the money myself. We have money sitting in Barclays that we can’t use.
“Everything they told us to do has turned out, in the long run, to be incorrect or useless.”
Mr Pundit’s frustration came with the Barclays communication. He explained the Bank asked the charity to change their account which they did, but it’s just caused more problems.
He added: “It’s now up to Barclays to fix it. It’s time they started doing things to correct the mess they created.”
Barclays explained to Sandra Hardial, reporter at Money Box, that it’s required to ensure account details are up-to-date as part of its regulatory responsibilities and preventing financial crime.
The bank said: “Clockwork has changed from being a club or society to operating as a charity, which it hadn’t told the bank.
“That requires a change in legal status and for that, it has to close the existing account and open a new one.”
Barclays said it will offer redress for two outgoing payments it had wrongly blocked and it’s working with officials at Clockwork to restore full access to its account.
After what Robin says has been “extensive action and communication” this week with the Bank, he now has access to the charities account which was reinstated on Thursday.
He said: “I had no issue with the need for Barclays to ensure it has an appropriate account. the issue was with Barclays customer service.”
It should be noted that it is not just Barclays closing accounts. Last month the Charity Commission for England and Wales and similar regulators in Scotland and Northern Ireland wrote a joint letter to the UKs main High Street banks, calling them to improve what they called their “sub standard service for charity”.
