Cash Dispensing: Coventry

(asked on 12th April 2021) - View Source

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of free-to-use ATMs that have closed in (a) Coventry North East constituency and (b) Coventry in each of the last five years; and what assessment he has made of the effect of such closures on levels of financial exclusion in those areas.


Answered by
John Glen Portrait
John Glen
Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
This question was answered on 15th April 2021

The Government recognises that access to cash remains important for many individuals and businesses across the UK. It has committed to legislate to protect access to cash and ensure that the UK’s cash infrastructure is sustainable for the long term.

To progress this work, the Government published a Call for Evidence on Access to Cash in October 2020. The Call for Evidence sought views on the key considerations associated with cash access, including deposit and withdrawal facilities, cash acceptance, and regulatory oversight of the cash system. The Government is considering responses to the Call for Evidence and will set out next steps in due course.

The Government also created the Joint Authorities Cash Strategy Group in 2019, which has provided a forum for the public bodies to formally co-ordinate respective approaches to access to cash. This is chaired by HM Treasury and attended by the Bank of England, Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The Group published an update on the actions of the Group’s members in July 2020. This included work led by the PSR and FCA to develop a comprehensive picture of cash access infrastructure across the UK.

With regards to ATMs, LINK (the scheme that runs the UK’s largest ATM network) publishes the total of free-to-use ATMs across the UK online. As of March 2021, they reported that there were around 41,000 free-to-use ATMs in the UK – this reflects ATMs that may have been located in premises closed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. LINK’s Monthly ATM Footprint Report also publishes information monthly on the break down by constituency.

LINK has existing arrangements in place to protect free-to-use ATMs that do not have another free-to-use ATM or Post Office within one kilometre. LINK’s members have also made £5 million available to fund ATMs at the request of communities with poor access to cash. The PSR has powers to regulate LINK and is holding it to account over its commitment to protect the broad geographic spread of free-to-use ATMs.

The Government also continues to be fully supportive of the Post Office Banking Framework Agreement. The agreement allows 95% of business and 99% of personal banking customers to carry out their everyday banking at 11,500 Post Office branches in the UK.

The Government is deeply committed to ensuring that individuals, regardless of their background or income, have access to useful and affordable financial products and services, including banking, payment services, credit, insurance, use of financial technology. To promote financial inclusion, the Government works closely together with regulators and stakeholders from the public, private and third sectors.

The Government reports annually on progress on financial inclusion. HMT published the latest Financial Inclusion Report, covering the period 2019-20, in November 2020. This can be found online at gov.uk https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/935985/Financial_Inclusion_Report_2020.pdf

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