Post Offices Provide a Lifeline for Banking Services in UK Communities Amid Ongoing Bank Closures

Post Office in pretty Norfolk village provides the only cash services available in an 11-mile radius – highlighting the impact of nationwide bank closures

25 August 2023, London - Mark Eldridge is not just a resident in the village of Great Massingham. He has been essential in preserving a vital community lifeline: the local Post Office and the essential banking services it provides.

The Post Office has stood in the picturesque Norfolk village for decades and was taken over by Mark and his dedicated team in 2018.

The village of Great Massingham has a range of local amenities, including a doctor's surgery, fire station, convenience store and village hall. However, one critical aspect remains lacking – local bank branches.

With the nearest bank branches in Fakenham, and Swaffham, all facing closures, the essential banking services provided by the Post Office are a lifeline for the residents and businesses in Great Massingham and the surrounding small villages.

The nearest bank branch for the residents of Great Massingham is now about 11 miles away. In contrast, a Post Office branch is located within three miles of 99% of the UK population.

Mark has revealed he has seen a 10% increase in people using the banking services provided at his Post Office each week as a result of all the local branch closures.

Without Mark and the cash services provided at his Post Office, local businesses and residents of Great Massingham have said they would feel ‘stranded’. There is just one hourly bus that travels from the village to King’s Lynn but there are periods in the day when there is no bus service to and from the village.

The plight of residents at Great Massingham shines a spotlight on the impact of bank closures on communities across the country and how many are now relying on Post Offices for cash in and cash out services.

It comes just days after the Government announced the banking sector faces penalties if it does not secure free access to cash following waves of branch closures over more than a decade.

Mark Eldridge, Postmaster at Great Massingham Post Office, said: "This is more than just a Post Office, it’s a community hub for Great Massingham and the surrounding villages. The banking services provide a social service; it helps to keep people liquid. So many people still use cash and there are many residents who are not tech savvy and don’t want to use banking apps. They like coming into the Post Office to pay cash in or take it out. Since Barclays announced they’ll be closing their branch in nearby Fakenham, I’ve had enquiries from several businesses locally to start using the Post Office banking services. Our Post Office has become an increasingly vital support for residents and local businesses giving them crucial banking services on their doorstep. We sit right at the heart of the community and have seen a 10% increase in people coming in to withdraw or deposit cash every week and with more bank closures around the corner, we expect this to only grow."

For Mark Dobby, 42, pub landlord of The Dabbling Duck in Great Massingham, the everyday banking services at the Post Office are vital. He said: “We use the banking services at the Post Office daily. Without it our closest bank would be King’s Lynn. If we used the bank at King’s Lynn, by the time you’ve gone in and made your cash deposits and come back that’s half-a-day gone. It’s not a viable option. It would be near impossible to go to the bank in King’s Lynn every day. We also use the Post Office for change and it allows us to continue to take cash payments from customers – which many like to do. If the Post Office was not here, we would have to stop taking cash payments. The Post Office is essential to Great Massingham and village life, it would be a different village without it. It generates passing trade for us and also makes Great Massingham a quintessential village: You have a pub, convenience store, Post Office and doctors’ surgery. It’s all you need and makes Great Massingham a desirable place to live.”

Resident Eddie Evans, 77, said: “Without the Post Office and all the services it provides – including the banking services - the residents of Great Massingham and those in the surrounding villages would be stranded. I wouldn’t know where to go; It’s a lifeline. I live in Weasenham which is 4 miles away and we don’t have a pub, shop or buses. I pop into the Great Massingham Post Office at least 2 or 3 times a week. There’s always someone to chat to and everyone always smiles at you. The Post Office and store are essential to village life.”

Post Offices continue to provide the biggest network of everyday banking services across the country, enabling local communities – especially those in rural areas - to access all major high street banks and building society accounts in branch.

As bank branches continue to close across the UK, the Post Office is uniquely placed to reach people in every part of the country and has been stepping in to fulfil the essential banking needs of local residents in all the communities left behind as the banks shut, ensuring access to cash services remains nearby, even in the most isolated areas.

In August alone, over 70 bank branches are due to close their doors for good, with over 200 more due to close this year, taking the total to over 5,000 UK bank branch closures since 2015 and 623 so far this year, with 83 of them in Greater London, 78 in the South East and 59 in East Anglia. This has resulted in an increasing number of people and businesses turning to their local Post Office for their essential banking needs.

From withdrawing and depositing cash, making cheque deposits, and checking accounts, the Post Office has supported £3.33bn in cash transactions in the UK and £2.7bn in England in July – one of the highest levels since September 2022 and marking the highest summer (June and July) of cash transactions ever as people flock to use these services while other nearby alternatives continue to close.

According to a London Economics report, Post Offices are particularly important economic pillars in rural communities, with more than a quarter serving as the last remaining shop in the village, supporting as many as 30 million visits each year in these branches.

While Post Offices are also helping to keep high streets alive by helping generate over £3 billion a year of spending in nearby shops and businesses. With the increasing rise in people using Post Office’s everyday banking services these figures are only set to grow.

Martin Kearsley, Director of Banking and Payments at Post Office, said: "Post Office is uniquely placed to provide essential banking services for local communities, no matter where they live in the UK. Against a backdrop of over 5,000 bank branch closures in recent years, our network of 11,500 Post Offices remain, sitting within three miles of 99% of the UK population, we are helping ensure that people and businesses can still access the everyday banking services the rely upon each week.

“We have seen unprecedented growth in demand for our banking services, as convenient access to cash withdrawals and deposits remains essential for thousands of businesses and local people up and down the country.

“The recent Cash Access Policy statement from the government is a really positive step forward in protecting access to cash for consumers and businesses with banks and building societies. We have worked closely with both the industry to support free access to cash in every Post Office nationwide, as well as deploying all the approved Banking Hubs, and continuously worked with government to ensure cash remains an option for all communities in the UK. The new geographic criteria set out by government for access to cash services very closely aligns with the existing Post Office access criteria, meaning that we can continue to play a vital role in cash provision.

“We already provide everyday banking services at all Post Offices which enables people to withdraw or deposit cash into their bank accounts. We will also continue to build on our in-person services by introducing more dedicated banking counters, by operating more Banking Hubs and by investing in technology like cash counting machines to improve our services further for the millions who rely on cash.”

Andrew Griffith, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, said: “People shouldn’t have to travel for miles and miles just to withdraw or deposit cash, which is why we are changing the rules so that access to cash should be convenient.

“Alongside what government does, I warmly welcome innovative approaches - like that from the Post Office – to help protect access to cash in rural communities. Whilst the growing choice and convenience of digital payments is great, we know that cash has a vital and continuing role to play.”

Post Office is also increasingly a lifeline for SMEs by providing essential banking services, such as depositing cash without needing to shut up shop and travel to find a bank in a neighbouring town (if it still has one).

Small and medium-sized businesses regularly rely on their local post offices to operate – in fact, almost a third of SMEs use Post Offices at least once a week – and more than half visit a branch at least once a month. SMEs hugely value the convenience that the Post Office network brings to their businesses – worth almost £1 billion per year overall to SMEs, which equates to over £175 per SME per year.

In a time when banks are rapidly retreating from landscapes across the UK, Post Offices remain essential one-stop hubs playing a crucial role in bridging the banking gap for local communities to ensure they are not left disconnected from essential banking and cash services.