Any progress on making banking easier for residents?

1st of May, 2024

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Last month we reported on, following high street bank closures, Saddleworth’s complete lack of banks, meaning that its 25,000 residents and businesses have to rely on the limited banking resources provided by local Post Office branches – or travel into Oldham town centre.

Bringing back banking to the people of Saddleworth is an urgent requirement which is why SPC is exploring the possibility of setting up a local Banking Hub to provide businesses and residents with full banking facilities – on their doorstep.

LINK Banking Hub

Banking Hubs are commissioned by LINK (the ATM people) and operated by the Post Office in partnership with major high street banks. SPC has been in touch with LINK to see if a Banking Hub can be established in Saddleworth and we can report that LINK is currently looking into the feasibility.

Tesco ATMs at Greenfield

It’s not just banks that have closed; ATMs are vanishing from high streets, too. The number of ATMs across the UK has dropped by 26 per cent since 2015 – and not all ATMs are free to use.

SPC recently wrote to Tesco about the ATMs at their Greenfield Superstore. There used to be two ATMs, but one has been closed and the other has been out of order on a number of occasions.

We want to see the closed ATM reinstated so that if one isn’t working, customers can get cash from the other. However, Tesco claims that usage doesn’t warrant having two ATMs and that the issues with the remaining ATM have now been fixed. We will be writing to the Chief Executive of Tesco to see if more can be done.

We’ll be bringing you more news on progress. In the meantime, you can find out more about Banking Hubs at https://www.postoffice.co.uk/bankinghubs  and https://www.link.co.uk/help/banking-hubs-help/