Bank branch and ATM closures: other ways to manage your money
Lloyds Banking Group has announced plans to close 49 branches, taking total UK bank closures past 400 for the year. As many local branches disappear, we look at your other options if you want to manage your money in a hands-on way.
Bank branch closures have become a common subject in the last few years.
If you like to bank in person, it’s starting to get much more difficult, as banks and building societies increasingly choose to shut down their branches and instead focus more of their services online.
As a result, every month we seem to hear more announcements of branches being shut down.
In fact, there are a staggering seven different banks that have confirmed plans to close some of their branches in 2025.
Lloyds Banking Group is the latest to announce a raft of closures across its brands, with 26 Lloyds branches, 10 Halifax branches and 13 Bank of Scotland sites all set to shut.
Other bank branch closures planned for 2025
As we say, Lloyds Banking Group is merely the latest in a very long list of banks looking to reduce their physical presence across the UK in a bid to cut costs, with Which? identifying a total of 432 planned branch closures in 2025 so far.
NatWest has already closed or announced plans to close 105 branches this year, while Santander (95), TSB (8) and Barclays (6) are all reducing their network, according to research compiled by Which?.
Access to cash
One of the big downsides that come from bank branch closures is that it can make it tricky for people to access their own money.
If the only ATM in your village is operated by the local branch, and it’s being closed, then that can present a challenge.
There may be a rival ATM you can use, but which charges you in order to make withdrawals, far from ideal if you’re trying to manage your money properly.
There have been measures to tackle this, though, including a framework published by the Treasury, which sets out minimum expectations around access to cash.
Essentially, the financial regulator has been given powers to ensure that people do not have to travel any more than three miles in order to be able to make free withdrawals.
An alternative to ATMs
Being able to get hold of your money doesn’t have to mean having a local ATM, of course.
An alternative comes from the ‘cash at the till’ scheme, operated by the LINK network.
Effectively, you can go into a local shop and ask the shopkeeper for cashback.
The money comes from your bank account, and you don’t have to make a purchase to make use of the service.
You can withdraw any amount from 1p to £50: you don’t have to limit yourself to notes ‒ if you need exact change, then you can get that money too.
It’s not a perfect replacement by any stretch, but having a local shop offering this service will at least mean you aren’t so reliant on having a local ATM.
You can find your nearest participating store here.
What about banking hubs?
Another development on this front has been banking hubs, which are effectively shared spaces used by a handful of different banks.
Each bank basically takes it in turns having staff in hub each day, while there are also counter services run by the Post Office.
There are more than 100 such hubs up and running across the UK, with many more set to launch over the coming years.
See a full list of banking hubs on this page
Mobile banking
If you can't beat them, join them.
Mobile banking apps have improved over the last few years and many are now easier to use than internet banking on your computer.
Many apps allow you to log in using just your thumbprint instead of using complicated passwords.
Some of these apps have other useful features, such as freezing your debit card or accessing cash if you’ve lost your card, all at the touch of a button.
There is of course one major drawback to relying on mobile banking ‒ if a bank’s systems go down, you could find yourself unable to access your money and may need to go to a branch.
As a result, it can make a lot of sense to set up a backup bank account or at least a credit card so that you still have payment options should things go wrong.
Use the Post Office instead
If you aren't keen on the app route, then head to your local Post Office.
The majority of personal banking customers and three-quarters of business banking customers can use the Post Office for withdrawing and depositing cash or cheques and to check their bank balance.
It’s free and there’s no need to register, just bring your debit card with you. You can find your local Post Office branch here.
It’s by no means a like-for-like replacement for a local bank branch, so you’ll find some services are more restricted.
For example, to pay in cheques, you may need a paying-in slip and deposit envelope from your actual bank (they should give you this for free if asked).
For account queries, changing details or applying for bank accounts, you will need to phone your bank directly or go to a branch.
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*This article contains affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission on any sales of products or services we write about. This article was written completely independently.
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