Protecting free access to cash

That this House calls on the Government to take urgent action to protect free access to cash for people across the UK, which the UK’s largest cashpoint network, Link, has warned will collapse within two years without immediate intervention; understands that since January 2018, one in five free to use cashpoints has closed, around 9,500 across the UK, and that consumers currently spend a staggering £100 million a year just to withdraw their own money; acknowledges that this comes on the backdrop of the closure of thousands of bank branches and post offices, with these closures being particularly damaging to more rural communities, and there has been no replacement for these services; recognises that access to free cash is vitally important to some of our most vulnerable communities, many of whom are digitally excluded, such as pensioners and those on low incomes; appreciates that the loss of free cash machines is occurring at a much higher rate in more socially disadvantaged areas, forcing already poor communities to pay significant fees to access their cash, affecting their ability to pay for necessities; and calls on the Government to bring forward legislation to ensure that the provision of free access to cash is protected so that no community is left behind in an increasingly digital society.