Since launching last year, more than £10m has already been withdrawn through PayPoint alone, with use of the service growing every month.Īs with banking hubs, cashback has proved particularly valuable to those on tight incomes, with the average amount withdrawn around £15, compared with the average ATM withdrawal of £80. This was first offered by PayPoint and is now available at more than 8,000 convenience stores across the UK. This follows the successful Community Access to Cash Pilots in 2021 which, as well as creating the concept of a banking hub, led to the national rollout of ‘cash at the till’ cashback. “The banking hub is the centre of our community and it’s bringing life back to the high street and crucially helping people and businesses with their everyday banking needs.”Ī further 12 communities will also pilot new cash services, which will be rolled out more widely if they prove successful. “Parts of the community like the elderly and financially vulnerable lost an essential service - they had to travel and then do their shopping in Rutherglen - it also hurt the high street and the small businesses which had nowhere to bank their takings. John Bachtler, chair of the Cambuslang Community Council, explained: “When the last bank branch closed, people could no longer just pop into town and go into the bank. Each of the banks involved will be providing staff on rotation, so there are trained specialists from different banks available on different days. There are also private spaces where customers can speak to someone from their own bank for advice and support about more complex issues. The hubs feature a counter service that will be operated by staff from the Post Office, where customers of any bank can withdraw and deposit cash, make bill payments can carry out regular banking transactions. The shared branch service operates in a similar way to a standard bank branch. These two hubs have already had approaching 60,000 customer visits and transactions worth £16m have taken place since they opened. The first hubs were piloted last year in Cambuslang in South Lanarkshire and Rochford in Essex, and have proved popular, with usage more than doubling since they’ve opened.
The new Scottish hubs will be in Brechin, Forres, Carluke and Kirkcudbright. This the total number of banking hubs to 25, with 10 due to open their doors within months. The Cash Action Group and LINK have announced that 13 new banking hubs will be created across the UK, with four in Scotland.
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