MPs urge Sunak to revive free to use ATMs to protect access to cash

A cross-party group of 37 MPs today urged Chancellor Rishi Sunak to bring forward promised action to protect access to cash as part of the COVID-19 recovery plans.

“We welcomed your Budget commitment to bring forward legislation to protect access to cash, but we are urging you to bring this action forward immediately. COVID-19 is threatening the collapse of this infrastructure and once it is gone it cannot be replaced,” MPs wrote in a letter.

The letter follows a call from consumer groups and business organizations to reverse the cuts made to the interchange fee, which is paid by banks to ATM providers for every cash withdrawal.

MPs noted that the cuts have saved banks £200 million since July 2018 when the first cut took place. While the cash machine network LINK has announced a scheme to protect free to use ATMs in every high street in the country, the letter notes this measure falls significantly short in filling the gap of lost ATMs.

“The measure is derisory, addressing only future ATM losses and not those that have already been lost or converted to pay to use,” the letter reads.

“With banks refusing to properly fund the ATM network, customers are losing out as free to use cash machines become unviable meaning operators must start charging. This is happening as banks increasingly withdraw their own frontline services and close branches across the UK.”

MPs suggested a return to the original cost-study mechanism that set the interchange fee as a short term remedy, as NoteMachine, the UK’s second largest ATM operator, has committed to revert over 2,500 machines back to ‘free’ in such a scenario.

“This is not just a simple solution, but one that would see an immediate impact,” the letter notes.

“NoteMachine ATMs that are now pay to use dispensed just shy of £1 billion post-COVID-19. When free, prior to COVID-19, they were dispensing £5.5 billion. That’s £4.5 billion missing that could be injected back into local economies if these machines were converted back to free.”

If the rest of the market were to follow, this would mean a total of 5-6,000 machines turning back to free-to-use, Virendra Sharma, Labour MP for Ealing Southall and a signatory to the letter, added.

“Cash is a lifeline for so many in my constituency. It is imperative that they have safe and free access to it. I for one value the ability to spend cash and so many here do too. I will stand up for free to access cash machines because they have a huge stimulating effect in the local economy,” he commented.