Vulnerable people were unable to access cash in accounts backed by Wirecard for three days after the UK financial watchdog took action against the firm. On Friday, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ordered Wirecard’s British unit to cease all regulated activity and freeze all its assets and funds after its German parent company filed for insolvency amidst a £1.7bn (€1.9bn) alleged accounting fraud. The accounts remained frozen until Monday evening, when the regulator said it had lifted the restrictions. “We are now in a position to allow Wirecard to resume operational activity,” the FCA said in a statement. “This means customers will now, or very shortly, be able to use their cards as usual.” As well as affecting customers of banking apps Pockit, Anna Money and Curve, the suspension over the weekend hit people with online U Accounts run by doorstep lender Morses Club, and some charities that have been using prepaid cards to get money to people during the pandemic. On Monday morning, Morses Club told customers their money was safe in a ringfenced Barclays UK account. “Your money will become accessible when the temporary restriction is lifted,” it added. In the meantime, however, it said benefits and wage payments would be returned to the senders. Among customers contacting the firm on Twitter were a key worker who said they could not afford to pay for travel or food. Charities helping some of the UK’s poorest people are also affected and have used prepaid cards to disburse payments to clients. The Salvation Army had recently introduced payment cards for clients who were victims of modern slavery as a measure to reduce risk during the pandemic. It said that it had been able to revert to its previous systems and make sure its clients had access to cash. Kathy Betteridge, the company’s director for anti trafficking and modern slavery, said: “The Salvation Army has quickly put in place contingency plans to ensure our modern slavery clients continue to be able to receive their financial allowances. Cash payments are being arranged for clients where needed.” She added: “We have been given assurances that all funds are safeguarded under UK law.” Paul Swinton, whose company B4B Payments runs prepaid cards for several companies and charities, said they had received no notice of the suspension on Friday. “We were halfway through our busiest day of the week in terms of loading cash on to cards when this happened,” he said. “We have a client who was paying some workers who are overseas. He’s loaded up their cards, and has had to go into his own account to pay them.” Thames Reach, a homelessness charity which is one of Swinton’s clients, said it had recently moved away from cash to the cards for welfare purchases. “Our staff are issued with these cards mainly to make welfare purchases for clients. This would include rental deposits, food or clothing,” said Paul Jackson, its director of finance, before the suspension was lifted. He said the freezing of Wirecard’s accounts had made welfare purchases “much more difficult to facilitate”. The Department of Work and Pensions said it had contacted “the small number” of benefits claimants it believed had been affected to arrange to help. On Monday night the FCA said if any customers were still experiencing difficulties in using their card, they should contact their card provider directly. It added: “We know that some people may have faced difficulties over the weekend and we worked with DWP, HMT and the Home Office in order to help anyone suffering financial distress. Anyone who is still in difficulties should see our website for more details. “We continue to work with the firm and are monitoring it closely to ensure it meets the conditions we have imposed and continues to protect consumers money.”