Union stepping up bank branch efforts

A campaign to save bank branches is being stepped up amid growing concern at the number being closed.

Unite, which represents staff working in banks across the country, said an increasing number of local branches were closing.

The union said that two-thirds of the United Kingdom’s bank branches have closed in the past 30 years.

Unite national officer Dominic Hook said: “The scale of bank branch closures over the last decade has been unprecedented.

“The damage done to local communities, small businesses and staff as

“Scale of bank branch closures over the last decade unprecedented”

a result of the decision of the banking sector to abandon local banking is devastating,” Mr Hook added.

“How do communities survive when customers cannot access cash, small businesses cannot do their banking locally and the elderly and vulnerable cannot get the local financial expertise they need?”

Unite will be staging an event in Brighton today as part of its campaign.

Gareth Shaw, head of money at consumer group Which?, said: “Banks are closing their branches at an alarming rate, which risks shutting many people out of vital financial services and affecting their ability to access their own cash.

“The next government should intervene to properly protect cash for as long as it is needed and help the many people struggling for vital cash access,” he added.