- Demand for in-person banking remains high as half of UK public use local services at least monthly
- Face-to-face services desired by broad demographics, from small businesses, young adults and high earners, to people who are financially and digitally excluded, with accessibility needs, and older people
- Government review examining if action needed to protect access to in-person banking
Nearly half the UK public (48%) use in-person banking at least once a month, and almost seven in ten (68%) want to keep access close to home, new Post Office research has found, underlining how millions of people and small businesses still rely on face-to-face services even as high street bank branches close.
The research found a wide range of everyday moments during which people still want to deal with someone in person, from a recently bereaved customer closing a loved one’s account, to a shopkeeper banking the day’s takings, to someone querying in person whether a suspicious payment request is a scam.
The research found a wider range of demographics regularly opting to bank in person than expected:
- SMEs rely heavily on in-person services for day-to-day operational needs;
- younger adults (over half of 18-24 year-olds (62%) have opened a bank account in person in the last two years and 58% say that being able to do so in person is important to them); and
- higher earners (more than half of people (54%) earning over £75,000 a year have opened a new bank account in-person in the last two years).
- The number of bank branches across the UK has more than halved, from 10,700 in 2015 to around 5,000 in 2024. One in six people (17%) now find it hard to reach a branch at all – with seven in ten (71%) having lost access to a branch within a mile of them.
Many people and SMEs already turn to their local Post Office as bank branches close. One in three people (33%) say they would struggle to access their finances without it. Many of the cash and banking services highlighted in the research are already available at 10,000 post office branches across the UK. However, the research shows strong demand for this to be extended, with half (50%) of UK adults saying they would like to see a larger range of banking services at their local post office.
The Government’s recently launched Access to Banking Services Review is an opportunity for a coordinated response across Government and industry to protect in-person banking services as high street bank branch numbers continue to drop.