This is an overview of geographical cash access coverage in the UK at the end of the first quarter (January to March) of 2022. This monitoring forms part of the FCA’s work on access to cash.
On a quarterly basis, the FCA, along with the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR), gather and update data on access to cash. This captures the locations of cash access points and other relevant information like temporary closures, opening hours, and accessibility. This data covers brick-and-mortar, mobile bank, and building society branches, automated teller machines (ATMs), and the Post Office network. We supplement this information with annual data on cashback locations.
This analysis provides insights on the proportion of the population that lives within a range of distances of various cash access points, although in this summary the FCA focuses on those within 2km and 5km of a cash access point.
The FCA estimates that for access to any bank, building society, Post Office branch, or any ATM (either free or pay-to-use) in 2022 Q1:
- 96.6% of the UK population are currently within 2km of a cash access point
- 99.8% of the UK population are currently within 5km of a cash access point
- 96.4% of the UK population are currently within 2km of a free-to-use cash access point
- 99.8% of the UK population are currently within 5km of a free-to-use cash access point
During this period there were changes in the type of access points available. Between 2021 Q4 and 2022 Q1:
- The number of brick-and-mortar branches of the larger banks and building societies providing personal current accounts (PCA) fell by 184, a decrease of 3.5%. Since 2021 Q1, such branches have declined in number by 757, or 12.9%.
- There was a small increase in the availability of Post Office branches (1.6%).
- While there was a negligible decrease in the number of free-to-use ATMs, the number of pay-to-use ATMs dropped considerably by 787, a decrease of 6.7%.
