A council has confirmed more than 33,000 residents were affected by a payment error processing the energy rebate, which led to some having money being taken from their accounts.

Paid through the council tax system, the rebate is meant to provide £150 to households in bands A–D.

But Swale Borough Council said an error meant those eligible would see both a debit and a credit on their bank account yesterday which was finally resolved this afternoon.

However, today they announced almost all of the potential 33,563 debits have not been taken from people’s bank accounts.

A statement on social media said: "We're pleased to update that the issue with the council tax rebate payments has been resolved.

"We now know that almost all of the potential 33,563 debits have not been taken from people’s bank accounts.

"There are 17 individual accounts with non-high street banks that we are waiting to confirm, but we do expect these to also reject the debits.

"We have been working with our bank to understand what happened, as there was no mandate for a payment to be taken from people’s accounts. Despite this, a debit was showing up in some people’s accounts.

"When we first became aware of a potential issue our absolute priority was to make sure people were not out of pocket.

"We were unable to confirm that payments would not be taken from people’s accounts, so we manually put through more than 33,000 payments on Tuesday night in batches of 200 at a time to make sure people had money in their accounts to cover any potential debits.

"As the debit subsequently failed, we're now in a position where more than 33,500 residents are in receipt of their energy rebate.

"This was a complicated situation, and it's taken longer than we would like to get the information and clarity we, and those potentially affected, need.

"We deeply regret the confusion, and we wholeheartedly apologise for the worry this may have caused people.

"We will now continue working on our plans to get the remaining 21,000 payments to those who do not pay by Direct Debit."

On Wednesday the council issued a statement saying: "We are deeply sorry that this has happened, and we have been working to rectify the situation and make sure people's accounts are in a neutral position.

"If you are worried, please check with your bank to confirm both a debit and credit has been made to your account.

"The planned £150 rebate is being reprocessed today and should be in people’s accounts in the next few days."

The post sparked a flood of criticism on Facebook, with some reporting they had only seen a payment taken from their account.

One said: "Only debit taken out and we’ve paid direct debit for years and in correct band for rebate. It’s a mess Swale Borough Council."

Another added: "How on earth SBC have messed this up is beyond belief. Do they not have competent programming staff/management/project management? Absolute disaster once again. I'm sure that once again the residents will receive a trite apology and the classic phrase 'we will look at lessons to be learned' - which basically means they will do naff all.

But there was some sympathy for the council's situation and efforts to make amends.

One commented: "Poor Swale council. The government drop these things on local authorities with scant warning and expect them to pick up the pieces with little or no extra resource.

"Genuine mistakes deserve understanding. I hope you get it sorted soon."