MSP briefing - Access to cash and banking facilities

Consumer Scotland is the statutory body for consumers in Scotland.

Consumers in Scotland face a range of challenges accessing financial products and services that meet their needs:

• With a higher proportion of remote, rural, and island communities than the rest of the UK, the impact of bank branch closures and reductions in cash access services can be disproportionately severe.
• Research by Which? has shown that Scotland was the first part of the UK to see over half of its bank and building society branches close, with 722 of our 1,041 branches closed and another 18 due to close as of November 2025.

Despite a decrease in levels of cash usage, access to cash remains important for many consumers, including older adults, low-income households, and those in rural areas. Approximately 1 in 10, equivalent to around 500,000 consumers in Scotland, depend on access to cash.

We have provided evidence  to the Financial Conduct Authority on access to cash in Scotland:

• We highlighted the specific characteristics and challenges relevant to consumers in Scotland
• In particular, we drew attention to the different approach to defining rural and urban areas in Scotland compared to England and Wales
• We highlighted the unique circumstances of Scotland’s many island communities in relation to “cash access assessments”
• We emphasised the specific difficulties that extreme weather events may cause for accessing cash via isolated transport routes
• We recommended that in order to be implemented successfully, the FCA’s new procedures enabling communities to make a “cash access request” would need to be publicised appropriately to raise awareness
• We continue to have active discussions with the FCA and other stakeholders around access to and acceptance of cash - and access to banking facilities more generally - for consumers in Scotland

We have undertaken new research on the role of post offices in providing access to cash and banking services in Scotland. Our research found that:

• 63% of consumers in Scotland had used the Post Office at least once in the past year for financial or administrative services
• 41% had used it for withdrawing or paying in cash and 23% had used it to pay bills.

The percentage of people using financial or administrative services was highest among 18–24-year-olds (83%) and 25–34-year-olds (71%).

We will soon publish new research on the challenges that Scotland’s 350,000 small and micro businesses experience as consumers across a range of markets, including financial services:

• When acting as consumers, micro and small businesses can face similar challenges as individual (domestic) consumers.
• However, micro and small businesses often have less legal protections, fewer rights and fewer routes to redress than individual consumers and may have less access to advice services to hep them resolve issues.  
• Small businesses participating in our research generally viewed financial services more positively than other regulated markets such as telecoms or energy,
• However, issues were still raised by many small businesses in relation to: access to and affordability of credit, unfair or unclear terms and conditions and other potentially misleading practices.
• Participants reported that successful resolution of consumer issues is less likely in financial services, energy and water, compared to other sectors.  
• Our research also suggests that financial services related issues are likely to have a substantial impact on business performance (such as turnover and profit)  

We will use our findings to advocate for better monitoring of small business experiences and outcomes, along better information, targeted to small business needs.

We will publish a new report in early 2026, providing an overview of the key issues faced by consumers in Scotland when accessing financial products and services, including access to cash and banking services. We will share this report with MSPs.

We will continue to deliver work on financial services in our 2026-2027 Work Programme. We will work with a wide range of key stakeholders, including regulators, advice bodies and governments, to advocate for action that enables consumers in Scotland to access the services they need in their daily lives.

We appreciate that access to cash and banking facilities is an issue which will be of interest to MSPs and your constituents.

We would find it very helpful to understand any issues which are raised with elected members on this matter as this can directly inform our advocacy and research on behalf of consumers in Scotland.

We would also be pleased to provide further information about our work on access to cash and financial services more widely.