FREE-TO-USE CASH MACHINES RESULT: BRISTOL LEADS THE WAY
A coalition of Bristol-based anti-poverty groups is today announcing unique city-wide action on free-to-use cash machines. An innovative partnership between local groups and Nationwide Building Society offers a strategic solution for Bristol people - and a blueprint for other cities to follow.
Nationwide is pledging to provide free cash machines for low-income areas across Bristol and Weston-super-Mare, where suitable sites can be found. These could include shops, community centres or libraries that are in busy areas where people feel safe and where a hole-in-the-wall machine would give people free access to their cash 24 hours a day. The Bristol Financial Inclusion Taskforce (B-FIT) is launching a public consultation to identify where cash machines are most needed across the city.
The announcement follows extensive campaigning by the Bristol Evening Post, the Citizens Advice Bureau and others, and longstanding national concern about the lack of access to free cash machines, especially in deprived areas. It is estimated consumers will pay more than £250 million to access their own cash across the UK in 2007.
Carole Crouch, of the Bristol Financial Inclusion Taskforce, said:
“We warmly welcome this commitment by Nationwide, which gives us a wonderful opportunity to place a significant number of new machines where they are most needed. We’ve launched a public consultation through the local press and community venues to involve people all over the city in determining the best possible sites for these machines.
“A weekly withdrawal would typically cost £91 a year, which for the lowest earning 10% of households is a whole week’s income. If the richest households paid that proportion of their income, the charge would be over £15 per withdrawal.
“Several banks and building societies have promised more free cash machines, encouraged by the recent Parliamentary working group. But the action is piecemeal. By working together in Bristol with Nationwide, our solution will be coherent and strategic. We anticipate that the first machines will be operating in late summer, and hope people will have better access to their money in many parts of the city by the end of the year.”
Jeremy Wood, Nationwide director, said:
“We have long campaigned for real action to protect the free cash machine network and this innovative partnership is a great opportunity to make a difference to deprived communities. We already have 30 free cash machines in the Bristol area, and are now inviting local people to suggest new locations for more free cash machines. This is a significant step forward in ensuring people can access their cash for free.”
Max Beseke, of Bristol CAB, said:
“This is a good example of how we can make society fairer for us all by working together. Local action is crucial but also needs the weight of a national campaign to put pressure on the Government and providers of services. Together we can help the voice of the ordinary person to be heard.
“There are over 600 cashpoints in this area, and almost half of them are free. And yet 84% of Bristol’s most deprived neighbourhoods don’t have a free machine in them. That can’t be right.”
Cash machine provision is one part of a wider financial inclusion agenda that also includes the expansion of local face-to-face debt advice and the development of a city-wide Credit Union.
Notes to editors
The Bristol Financial Inclusion Taskforce (B-FIT) brings together public sector bodies, the voluntary and community sector, social enterprise, housing associations and financial institutions with a commitment to collaborate on financial inclusion activities to improve access to products, services and training.
John McFall MP led a Parliamentary working group on cash machines involving consumer groups and the financial services industry. The report was published on 13 December 2006 and is available on the Treasury website at
www.hm-treasury.gov.uk
It included mapping and analysis from LINK of low-income areas that did not have free access, which was the basis of the B-FIT analysis.
Calculations: weekly income after housing costs of bottom decile 2004-05 = £91. Typical cashpoint charge of £1.75 is 1.92% of income; for 52 weeks totals £91. Weekly income of the top decile is £820; 1.92% of this is £15.77. Source: Department for Work and Pensions (2006), Households Below Average Income Survey, Supplementary tables 2004-05 Table A2.
Members of the public are invited to suggest areas and sites that could take a free ATM, through the local press, nomination boxes in community venues or www.thisisbristol.co.uk
The Government’s Financial Inclusion Fund is paying for 14 new debt advisers across Bristol and the surrounding area, doubling the previous level of provision. We expect over 3,000 additional clients to benefit from free debt advice in the Bristol area through this project, by March 2008.
The Financial Inclusion Fund is also funding the city-wide Bristol Credit Union to increase the supply of affordable credit, benefiting over 1,000 local people. The Financial Services Authority has designated Bristol an “early adopter” of its financial capability strategy for young adults.
For further information:
Bristol Financial Inclusion Taskforce: Jenny Shellens, 0117 954 3990, jenny@bdac.org.uk
Nationwide: Laura Scott, 01793 655195, laura.scott@nationwide.co.uk
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