A DEBATE called within the House of Lords last week by the Bishop of Newcastle, Dr Helen-Ann Hartley, asked the Government how much it understood concerning the community impact of bank closures.
Noting the recent announcement by the Lloyds Banking Group of the closure of 136 bank branches, she referred to “a decade of decline within the variety of high-street banks”: “63 per cent of branches open firstly of 2015” had now closed. “At the center of this issue . . . is the stripping away of essential services without adequate alternative provision,” the Bishop said.
“Online banking is indeed way more convenient for a lot of, but where does that leave those that depend on the services that in-person banking provides, those living in rural areas whose broadband is unreliable, those that struggle to know online systems and fear the danger of fraud, those on low incomes who depend on money to administer their budget, and people in need of recommendation to establish a mortgage or business, for whom a phone call cannot compare?”
It was particularly a problem for the elderly. “An Age UK survey reveals that using online banking is as little as 14 per cent among the many 85-plus age group,” and “also reflects the broader issue of declining high street services”, Dr Hartley said. Although she welcomed the Government’s introduction of “banking hubs with access to “the elemental function of banks from a variety of providers”, she was “concerned that 350 hubs won’t be enough to fill the gap in services that the rapidly closing bank branches are leaving”.
Lord Arbuthnot (Conservative) said that “despite the mayhem and trauma that it has inflicted on sub-postmasters throughout the country, and despite the appalling scandal of the Horizon saga, the Post Office is crucial to communities up and down the country.” He declared his interest “as a member of the Horizon compensation advisory board”, and that “as banks close their branches, we want more post offices, not fewer . . . larger post offices, with the wonderful sub-postmasters getting back to their rightful role as leaders and enablers of their strong communities.”
Lord Holmes (Conservative) said that it was a matter of “connectivity. What happens if you’ve gotten no bank branch, and the broadband and mobile coverage isn’t all that in your area?”
The Liberal Democrat Baroness Kramer’s concern was for the “increasing number of individuals and communities — especially individuals with disabilities, older people, and particularly people in rural areas — who’re being left behind because their basic banking needs are barely being met by the system because it is today”.
Lord Altrincham (Conservative) referred to “cost pressure on the banks, partly in consequence of regulation, which made it hard to keep up buildings and branches”.
Responding on behalf of the Government, Baroness Blake framed the “essential thread running through all of this . . . the agricultural economy and the way it will survive . . . communities, vulnerability, and ensuring that we’re inclusive in all of the work we have now done”. Reassurance was offered, she said, through the 2024 Autumn Budget’s announcement of “funding of over £500 million next 12 months to deliver digital infrastructure upgrades through Project Gigabit and the shared rural network”.
Link, the operator of the UK’s largest ATM network, carries reviews “communities’ access to money needs”, and recommends a banking hub where required, she explained; a closure can occur just once “really useful services have been installed”. She was equally obsessed with “post offices’ . . . being at the center of the community . . . offering banking services”.
The Minister closed by thanking Dr Hartley “for her timely debate, and for her continued championing of rural banking access. I used to be struck that she broadened this out. . . inclusion is a problem right across the country for lots of our different communities.”
Bank branch closures have been investigated by the Church Times as a problem for parish treasurers (Features, 6 September 2024).
