Soaring numbers of bank branches are refusing to accept or offer coins.
In another sign that Britain is heading towards a cashless society, up to one in ten branches at major banks refuse to handle change.
It will come as a blow to small businesses that rely on bank branches for change, as do schools and charities running fundraising events and families hoping to exchange the contents of money boxes.
The banking trade body UK Finance said cash payments had plummeted 16 per cent in 12 months, with one in ten adults now claiming to have ditched cash altogether. It estimates that within a decade just 9 per cent of all transactions will be in cash [File photo]
Experts accuse banks of attempting to push coins ‘out the back door’ just weeks after ministers U-turned on plans to scrap coppers.
They warn that rural communities that have lost significant numbers of branches in recent years could be worst affected.
Most of the big banks have so-called ‘counterless’ branches where customers use machines to deposit or withdraw cash.
Without traditional service counters, it means customers only have access to notes and cannot request or deposit coins.
With ATMs and bank branches closing at a record pace, the Bank of England warned this week that the UK was just six years behind the world’s cashless capital, Sweden, where cash payments are down 80 per cent since 2008 [File photo]
Britain’s biggest bank, Lloyds Banking Group – which includes Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland, has 55 coinless branches – around 3 per cent of its total of more than 1,700.
Santander does not offer coins in almost 10 per cent of its branches. Some 59 of its 614 sites are counterless.
Some 21 HSBC branches are also now coinless. Although the bank claims that 16 of these are within a five-mile radius of another HSBC branch that does accept coins.
Britain’s biggest bank, Lloyds Banking Group – which includes Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland, has 55 coinless branches – around 3 per cent of its total of more than 1,700 [File photo]
Barclays has ten self-service sites. Two in London created for customer enquiries and appointments do not allow any cash withdrawals at all, including notes. NatWest has one digital store in Leeds that does not offer coins.
Pensioner Jennifer Grimsby is typical of the sort of person affected. She used to go to the Halifax in Skipton, North Yorkshire, to get coins to pay for parking at regular hospital visits. But after it was refurbished, it no longer handled coins.
She said: ‘It looked like a normal branch. But inside it looked more like a sitting room. Instead of a counter there were two sofas and a small coffee room. There were two staff and no customers.’
Mrs Grimsby, 70, added: ‘When I asked what kind of bank did not have a till I was told, ‘A modern one’. So many of us still rely on coins – where are we supposed to get them?’
With ATMs and bank branches closing at a record pace, the Bank of England warned this week that the UK was just six years behind the world’s cashless capital, Sweden, where cash payments are down 80 per cent since 2008.
The banking trade body UK Finance said cash payments had plummeted 16 per cent in 12 months, with one in ten adults now claiming to have ditched cash altogether.
It estimates that within a decade just 9 per cent of all transactions will be in cash.
Despite this, around eight million people are still heavily reliant on notes and coins, according to The Access to Cash Review.
Most of the big banks have so-called ‘counterless’ branches where customers use machines to deposit or withdraw cash. Without traditional service counters, it means customers only have access to notes and cannot request or deposit coins [File photo]
The Treasury has set up the Joint Cash Strategy Group to ensure cash is protected, following a pledge by ministers to keep 1p and 2p coins in circulation after Philip Hammond threatened to scrap them.
Jenny Ross, money editor at Which?, said: ‘Counterless branches that don’t offer coin facilities suggest that banks are happy to facilitate the erosion of access to cash, risking real harm to millions of people.’
James Daley, of the campaign group Fairer Finance and a member of the Access to Cash Review, said: ‘It is an attempt to push coins out the back door.
‘It’s in banks’ interest to get rid of coins because they are expensive. There are machines that can accept and deposit coins – the banks just have not invested in them.’
Mike Cherry, of the Federation of Small Businesses, said: ‘Small business owners with cash takings need to be able to deposit all those takings, not just notes.’
UK Finance said: ‘Securing free access to cash for those who continue to use it is a clear industry priority.’
