76 communities to have new cash services following LINK’s latest recommendations

76 communities to have new cash services following LINK’s latest recommendations 

A further nine new Banking Hubs and six new deposit services have been recommended by LINK, the UK’s Cash Access and ATM network, thanks to a commitment from the banking industry to protect access to cash. That takes the total number of new cash services recommended by LINK to 76; 38 Banking Hubs and 38 Deposit Services.

• LINK has recommended new Banking Hubs in the following communities: Barnoldswick (Lancashire)
• Clay Cross (Derbyshire) (Requested by the community) Earlestown (Merseyside) (Requested by the community) Heywood (Greater Manchester)
• Horwich (Greater Manchester) Oakham (East Midlands) Shoreham-by-Sea (West Sussex)
• Stapleford (Nottinghamshire) (Requested by the community) Watton (Norfolk)

Banking Hubs provide basic banking services including counter services run for the major banks by the Post Office, and dedicated rooms where customers can see community bankers from their own bank. There are currently four Hubs up and running across the UK, these are: Brixham (Devon), Cambuslang (South Lanarkshire), Cottingham (East Riding of Yorkshire) and Rochford (Essex).

LINK has also recommended new Deposit Services in the following communities. Keswick (Cumbria)

Ripley (Derbyshire) Littlehampton (West Sussex) Whitstable (Kent) Dagenham (Greater London) Colwyn Bay (Clywd)

The new Deposit Services will provide consumers and businesses with convenient and accessible ways to deposit cash without having to visit a bank branch.

Cash Access UK Ltd, a bank-owned delivery company, will now open the new Hubs and Deposit Services.

In addition, to these new services, LINK already invests over £15m every year to directly support 3,450 free ATMs ensuring that the UK’s network of 39,500 free ATMs is available across every part of the UK.

John Howells, CEO, LINK: “Access to cash and face-to-face banking services continues to be important for millions of people across the UK. Not everyone can or is able to go digital yet, so we’re pleased to announce new cash services to support these communities.”

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS: Spokespeople available upon request

About the LINK Scheme: The LINK Scheme is the UK’s Cash Access and ATM Network that connects virtually all the UK’s ATMs and provides communities with access to cash through services such as cash withdrawals at retailer’s tills and Banking Hubs. LINK’s role is to provide UK consumers with universal access to cash in a safe, convenient and rapid manner. A free LINK Cash Access App showing consumers their nearest free cash access location can be found at www.link.co.uk/consumers/locator/. LINK has 32 Members that issue cards and deploy ATMs in the UK. LINK is a not-for-profit organisation and governed by an independent Board, which has a clearly defined public interest remit. www.link.co.uk

What is a Banking Hub?

Banking Hubs are a shared banking space on the high street. They offer a counter service operated by the Post Office, where customers of all major banks and building societies can carry out regular cash transactions, Monday to Friday. The Hubs also offer a Community Banker service where customers can talk to their own banking provider about more complicated banking issues. The Community Bankers work on rotation, with a different banking provider available on each day of the week. Community Bankers are usually provided by the banks or building society with the largest number of customers in the local area.

Which other services are available to people who need access to cash?

As well as the Banking Hubs, communities can benefit from:

• Free ATMs (more information on locations is available at link.co.uk).
• Post Office counter services (11,500 locations across the UK).
• Cash withdrawals without purchase (currently available in over 2,000 stores across the UK).
• Deposit Services to provide consumers and businesses with convenient and accessible ways to deposit cash without having to visit a bank branch.
  

Which banking providers are involved in this initiative?

Nine high street banking providers are funding this initiative. The firms involved are:

• Barclays
• Danske Bank
• HSBC
• Lloyds Banking Group
• Nationwide Building Society
• NatWest Group
• Santander
• TSB
• Virgin Money
  

Who will staff the Banking Hubs?

The Community Bankers are provided by the banks and building societies with the most customers in the community. People using the Hubs will be able to speak to fully trained and experienced staff who will be able to provide support on basic banking issues – or put customers in touch with more specialist teams who can help.

The Banking Hubs are operated by a Postmaster.

Will staff in the Hub be able to help solve problems and deal with complaints?

Every member of staff in the Hub will be familiar with procedures to solve problems and complaints

– and will be able to support customers if they have any issues. 

How do you decide which communities need a Banking Hub or cash services?

Whenever a participating bank or building society makes a change to its network (such as a branch closure) it notifies LINK in advance. LINK then independently assesses the community’s needs, looking at what other services are available locally, local demographics, and the size of the location

(people and number of shops) and determine whether the community needs a new cash service. The criteria LINK uses have been developed by the banking industry with input from consumer and small business groups.

Communities can also ask LINK to assess their cash needs by visiting: www.link.co.uk/consumers/request-access-to-cash/.

Full List of Services Recommended Banking Hubs

Deposit Services