A Lib Dem councillor is calling for action as she says residents and businesses are struggling to access much-needed cash.
Hazel Thorpe (LDem, Tarring) raised concerns about dwindling bank branches during Worthing Borough Council’s meeting on Tuesday (19 July).
“The closure of bank branches in many parts of Worthing and the removal of as many as one in four ATM machines is making it harder for working people and pensioners to access cash,” she said.
“The failure of large banks to offer mobile banking services to compensate for the closure of branches is causing unnecessary hardship to our residents.
“Not all of our local residents are confident about using online banking facilities because of the concerns about technology and internet banking scams.
“Small businesses require local facilities for banking cash and obtaining change.”
Ms Thorpe called on council leader Beccy Cooper (Lab, Marine) to support alternatives like banking hubs – branches shared by multiple banks – and to commission a study on the issue.
Dr Cooper said ‘multiple residents’ had been in touch with her to say they were struggling to access in person banking.
She agreed to meet with Ms Thorpe to discuss a way forward.
A number of branches have closed in Worthing in recent years.
Some of those lost include Santander, 37 Goring Road, which closed in July 2021; a HSBC, also on Goring Road; and a Lloyds branch, on George V Avenue, which closed earlier this year.
A new law, the Financial Services and Markets Bill, entered Parliament on Wednesday (20 July).
The government says it will give banking regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) powers to ensure communities have access to cash facilities.
Card payments have overtaken cash as the UK’s most common payment method but cash is still the second most frequently used.
It is thought that around 5.4 million adults rely on cash to a ‘very great’ or ‘great extent’ in their daily lives.
According to the FCA, 267 bricks-and-mortar banking branches closed in the first six months of 2021.
Despite this, the regulator says that 95.5 per cent of the population are within two kilometres of a cash point.
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