Richard Burden – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2014-06-04.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to improve access to free to use cash machines.

Andrea Leadsom

95 per cent of communities in the lowest quartile of the government deprivation index now have free-to-use ATMs within their area or less than two thirds of a mile from the area’s centre. This has brought access to free-to-use ATMs to over 1.5 million people and progress towards covering even more communities continues.

LINK has established a Financial Inclusion Programme to provide free-to-use ATMs where they are needed, by installing ATMs that are subsidised to make their operation commercially viable for operators. The cost of this subsidy is shared out among LINK member banks. 1,400 target areas now have access to an industry subsidised ATM through the programme.

I am aware Toynbee Hall is due to complete research on this issue shortly.