We're committed to ensuring consumers and businesses can access the cash they need. We're using our powers to act where we find or anticipate significant issues.
Our access to cash rules
On 24 July 2024, we published our rules[1] to protect access to cash, and they came into force on 18 September 2024.
Our rules aim to address the cash access needs of consumers and businesses in local communities by requiring designated firms to assess and fill gaps in local cash provision.
The banks and building societies designated by the Treasury have to:
- Assess cash access and understand if additional services are needed, when changes are being made to local cash access services.
- Respond to local residents, community organisations and representative groups, who’ll be able to request an assessment of whether there are gaps in local cash access.
- Deliver reasonable additional cash services, where significant gaps are found.
- Keep facilities, including bank branches and ATMs, open until additional cash services identified are available.
Designated firms should speak to their supervisory contact if they have any queries in relation to access to cash.
Why access to cash is important
Our Financial Lives 2022 survey[2] found that 6% of adults in the UK used cash to pay for everything or most things over the 12 months since May 2021, with this figure increasing (9%) for those in vulnerable circumstances.
Our data shows that most people currently have reasonable access to cash. 95.0% of the UK population are within 1 mile of a free-to-use cash withdrawal point, such as cash machines, Post Office branches or bank/building society branches, and 99.7% of the UK population are within 3 miles of a free-to-use cash access point.
But the long-term decline in the use of cash through technological and social change has made it more expensive for individual firms to maintain their existing infrastructure.
In response, we updated our guidance to deliver good customer outcomes when branches are closed.
Along with the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR), the Bank of England and the Treasury, we're committed to protecting access to cash – particularly for consumers in vulnerable circumstances who rely on it. This is part of our commitment[3] to put consumers' needs first and to ensure they can access the cash they need.
Branch closures
Our powers focus on access to cash rather than wider banking services, and don’t prevent bank branches from closing. However, our rules have an impact where branch closures leave significant gaps in communities' cash services.
We continue to supervise bank branch and ATM closures or conversions to ensure customers receive good outcomes as required under the Consumer Duty[4].
We updated our guidance[5] for firms in October 2022. We also shared information on the good practice and areas for improvement[6] we have identified when supervising firms planning branch or ATM closures or conversions.
Next steps
We're committed to conducting and publishing a review on the impact of our access to cash rules. We'll begin our review in Q4 2026, 2 years after the rules have been in place. We expect to publish our findings in Q2 2027.
We'll also continue to publish updates[7] about access to cash coverage to inform our policy work and to ensure we can act quickly if we see problems emerging.
Our work so far
In September 2020, we published guidance[8] setting out our expectation that firms should consider the impact of branch and ATM closures on their customers’ everyday banking needs and consider the availability and provision of alternatives. We have been supervising firms closely as they consider branch closures, assessing plans based on the risk of harm to consumers. In January 2021[9], we asked banks to pause closures where, due to the pandemic, they are unable to meet the expectations laid out in our guidance.
In May 2021 we published a joint statement[10] on access to cash with the PSR to clarify that we expect firms to help protect access to cash and wider banking services in ways that meet consumers’ needs. Sheldon Mills, Executive Director of Consumers and Competition, also highlighted the importance of action by individual firms and the wider industry at the Which? Cash Summit in May 2021[11].
In July 2021, we published research commissioned by us to Savanta ComRes on trends in consumers' use of cash[12] followed by research published in November 2021 on Small and Medium Sized businesses’ (SME) use and acceptance of cash[13]. This research gave us accurate data and evidence to inform our policy work on access to cash, enabling us to focus on those who need and use cash the most.
In December 2021, we issued a statement[14] welcoming the announcement that the Cash Action Group had created an independent co-ordinating body to assess the needs of local communities and direct cash solutions including shared banking hubs.
The Treasury published a Cash Access Policy Statement[15] on 18 August 2023. We published our own statement[16] on the same day, which set out our overall approach to cash access in the UK (including how we've considered the Treasury’s Policy Statement), as well as next steps.
The Financial Services and Markets Act received Royal Assent on 29 June 2023. It requires us to seek to ensure the reasonable provision of cash withdrawal and deposit services for personal and business current accounts across the UK.
The Act gave us new powers, in particular, to act where we find or anticipate there will be shortages in cash access services which would have a significant impact on local areas.
In December 2023, we published our consultation (PDF)[17] on the rules we proposed to make under the new powers in the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023. This consultation closed in February 2024.
In May 2024, the Treasury announced the designation[18] of the banks and building societies that will be subject to our new rules, as well as the designation of an operator of cash access coordination arrangements.
