Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he is taking steps to ensure access to ATMs in rural locations.

The government recognises that cash continues to be used by millions of people across the UK, including those who may be in vulnerable groups.

The government legislated through the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 to establish a new legislative framework to protect access to cash. This establishes the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as the lead regulator for access to cash and provides it with responsibility and powers to seek to ensure reasonable provision of cash withdrawal and deposit facilities.

Following this, the government published a Cash Access Policy Statement, which the FCA must take into account in exercising its powers. This sets out that the vast majority of people in predominately rural areas of the UK should have access to cash deposit and withdrawal services within a maximum of 3 miles of where they live. The government’s policy statement is available on gov.uk: Cash Access Policy Statement

Regarding ATM provision specifically, LINK (the scheme that runs the UK's largest ATM network) also has commitments to protect the broad geographic spread of free-to-use ATMs. It is held to account against these commitments by the Payment Systems Regulator.