Cash Dispensing: Fees and Charges

(asked on 22nd March 2021) - View Source

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure that free-to-use cash points are available in the places that they are needed.


Answered by
John Glen Portrait
John Glen
Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
This question was answered on 30th March 2021

The Government 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) 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 until December 2022. The terms of future Banking Framework Agreements are commercial decisions between industry and the Post Office. The Government will continue to engage with industry and the Post Office to ensure that that all customers, wherever they live, continue to have access to over the counter banking services.

Industry-led initiatives to support financial inclusion and access to cash are also underway. This includes the Community Access to Cash Pilots initiative which is taking place in nine locations across the UK. This initiative is trialling additional cash access facilities – including new ATMs, automated cash deposit facilities and cashback without a purchase – within selected pilot areas. These pilots are to test solutions for ensuring that communities can conveniently withdraw and deposit cash and to identify ways that basic banking services can be better delivered, that could be adopted in other locations. The Government looks forward to the outcomes of these pilots.

The Government 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.

Reticulating Splines