Protect UK’s ATMs and cash access, Chancellor is warned

THE Chancellor must protect the UK’s access to cash in next month’s Budget or else the free availability of coins and notes could soon be lost forever, consumer campaigners are urging.

Which? has written to Rishi Sunak ahead of the March 11 Budget, calling for legislation that protects cash for as long as it is needed.

It said the industry’s approach so far to tackling cash access has been “lacklustre”.

The letter to the Chancellor reads: “The UK’s ATM network is on the verge of collapse.”

It continues: “In the past two years, 9,000 free cash machines and 1,200 bank branches have vanished.

“We’re even being charged a fee to access our own money at 25% of the cash machines that remain.

“Understandably, millions of people are unhappy about this.

“They rely on cash. For many of them, cash is the only option.

“If things carry on as they are, cash as we know it will cease to exist in just two years.

“Yes, digital payments are good, but right now the UK isn’t ready to go cashless.”

The letter also cautions: “If you don’t act now, free access to our own cash will soon be gone forever.”

Which? said that while a “request an ATM” service launched by network Link has received 274 requests so far, a tool launched by the consumer group supplied Link with 3,160 demands for a free cashpoint.

Gareth Shaw, head of money at Which? said: “Many people have been left struggling from the double blow of cashpoint and bank-branch closures – and suffered at the hands of industry mismanagement that has left Britain’s cash landscape on the verge of collapse.

“This Budget will decide the future of cash. The Chancellor has a huge opportunity here to protect cash for the millions of people who rely on it.”

On Tuesday, HSBC announced the closure of 27 branches in 2020, as well as an investment of nearly £34 million in its branches, including refurbishments and installing new technology.

HSBC said over the past five years the number of customers using its UK branches has fallen by a third. Nine in 10 (90%) customers’ contact with the bank is now completed via the telephone, internet or smartphone and 99% of cash withdrawals are made at an ATM.

John Howells, chief executive of Link, said: “Cash use is declining rapidly. At the start of 2020, we have seen an average drop in transactions by 12% on the previous year.”