UK bank customers living in rural areas and those on low incomes are most likely to encounter barriers to accessing cash, according to a new survey by the Payments Council.
The survey revealed that those who experienced problems in withdrawing cash were primarily low-income consumers struggling to manage very tight budgets, particularly those not in employment and people living on social housing estates outside towns.
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The survey found that difficulties experienced included:
-ATMs in poorly-served areas which are sometimes out of order or may have run out of cash;
-Limited access to free ATMs in some areas;
-Limited availability of small denomination notes at ATMs, particularly £5 notes which many consumers find useful;
-Security fears about using ATMs in areas of high crime or anti-social behaviour, and
-Queues at some very busy ATMs in poorly-served areas, resulting in lengthy waits in some cases.
Many of the respondents believed their access to cash had improved in recent years.
The survey found that 81% of those asked said it was very easy to get the cash they needed and there were high levels of satisfaction among those who got cash using ATMs, counters or cashback.
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By GlobalDataCompared to three years ago, 24% of consumers thought it was easier to get cash now and 71% thought that it was about the same.
Only 2% thought that it had become harder to get the cash that they needed.
Small and medium-sized businesses generally reported low cash use but most users had no real issues withdrawing it.
Adrian Kamellard, Payments Council chief executive, said: "It’s encouraging that the substantial majority of consumers and businesses are able to get cash easily, but the Payments Council’s focus is on those who have reported difficulties – particularly as these customers are often those most dependent on cash to help them manage on a tight budget.
"Using what we have learnt from this research, over the next year we will be looking to identify any practical steps to deliver improvements for them."
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