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<p>The Government recognises that widespread free access to cash remains extremely
important to the day-to-day lives of many consumers and businesses in the UK, including
in rural communities. Government has been engaging and will continue to engage with
industry, to ensure that widespread free access is maintained.</p><p> </p><p>The Payment
Systems Regulator (PSR), which Government set up as an independent regulator in 2015
with a statutory objective to ensure that the UK’s payment systems work in the interests
of their users, is monitoring developments within ATM provision, and is conducting
ongoing work on the impact that changes may have. The PSR has recently published a
summary of their work to date, which can be found at https://www.psr.org.uk/psr-focus/the-UK-ATM-network.</p><p>
</p><p>The PSR has committed to using its powers to act should any of the firms it
regulates behave in a way that conflicts with its statutory objectives.</p><p> </p><p>LINK,
the main scheme behind the UK’s ATM network, has assured us and the PSR that industry
is committed to maintaining an extensive network of free-to-use cash machines, and
to ensuring that the present geographical spread of ATMs is maintained. LINK intends
to bolster its Financial Inclusion Programme, which ensures the provision of ATMs
in areas of deprivation, where demand would not otherwise make one viable, and has
also committed to protecting all free-to-use ATMs which are a kilometre or more from
the next nearest free-to-use ATM.</p>
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