It doesn’t take much effort to work out which banks and building societies want you to use their branches – and those which would prefer you not to, thereby giving them the excuse to shut them.
A few days ago, I was drawn to a notice in the window of the NatWest branch I walk (occasionally run) past on my way from London’s Paddington to work in Kensington. Headed ‘Staying safe in branch’, it encouraged anyone contemplating going inside to think twice – and certainly not go in before putting on a mask.
Once inside, hand sanitisers should be used and a safe distance kept between you and any other branch users. Hardly a friendly welcome – and one more appropriate to 2021 than 2023.
Contrast that to the Nationwide in my home town of Wokingham in Berkshire, which is constantly promoting local good causes in its branch. It also actively encourages locals to join the country’s largest building society.
‘If your local bank is closing, why not join a building society instead?’ it asks in a leaflet stuck to its display window.
OFF-PUTTING: The NatWest branch in Paddington WELCOMING: The Nationwide in Wokingham
The final paragraph of NatWest’s notice tells you everything you need to know (if you didn’t know already) about its view on branches: ‘Would you like to bank from home instead?’ It then goes on to promote its app, online and video banking. In other words, don’t enter – go and bank from the comfort of your home.
As for Nationwide in Wokingham, the bank whose customers are firmly in its sights is NatWest. It was the last bank in town to desert the high street when it shut in February this year.
For the time being, Barclays, HSBC and Lloyds cling on, although given the dilapidated state of their branches, I imagine it won’t be long before they also shut up shop. To quote half a line from the 1970s songsters Sparks, ‘This town ain’t big enough’ for all these banks.
This time next year, I would hazard a guess that Nationwide will be the only banking show in town.
…and where are the hubs?
While on the subject of bank branch closures, it is good to learn that cash machine network provider Link has just made its 52nd recommendation for a banking hub – a shared branch, operated by the Post Office, that customers of all the big banks can use.
Under an agreement struck with the banks and various consumer groups, the hubs are being introduced in communities that have lost their last bank branch. The latest will be installed in Bramhall, Greater Manchester, and will allow customers to deposit and withdraw cash, pay bills and speak to staff from their own bank on specific days.
As a longstanding campaigner for such community banks, it’s great they are finally coming to our high streets. Yet the rate at which recommendations are being turned into bricks and mortar remains painfully low. Of the 52 suggested by Link, only four have so far seen the light of day – one more will open next month.
The birth of hubs is down to Cash Access UK. But, tightly funded by the country’s big banks and working to strict rules laid down by them, this worthy organisation is struggling to deliver on Link’s promises.
A few days ago, a resident of Welshpool in Powys, who I have been speaking to on and off about her town’s proposed banking hub, told me it has been delayed again until ‘later this year’. A delay, she says, that will imperil the future of many local businesses and inconvenience residents. If only the banks could help open hubs as enthusiastically as they shut branches.
Following in Rob’s footsteps
Sunday will see me pounding the streets of Leeds in a quest to complete the Rob Burrow Leeds marathon.
While the pain will be great, it will be soothed by the fact I’m running for a tremendous cause – the funding of a specialist Motor Neurone Disease Care Centre in the city.
Star man: Rob Burrow in action for Leeds Rhinos
MND is a cruel illness that Rob, a wonderful rugby league player in his time, is doing battle with. So every ache, cramp and muscle tear that I experience over the 26.2 miles will be worthwhile.
Taxman gains – as tenants suffer death of the landlord
When it comes to housing, this Government has lost the plot.
Despite a manifesto pledge to get 300,000 new homes built a year, house builders aren’t delivering. They are not being helped by the keenness of many local authorities to refuse planning permission for new estates – sometimes for the right reasons (lack of a supporting infrastructure); other times, for the wrong reasons.
Meanwhile, social housing remains in steep decline – a result of chronic underfunding – while the private rental sector is shrinking by the day. Landlords, hit by rising taxes and steeper interest rates, are giving up the ghost, resulting in an acute shortage of properties to let. An imbalance between demand and supply has allowed those landlords remaining to jack up rents, knowing that in most cases tenants will pay.
A dear friend, now in her late-70s, has been told her rent is going up at the end of this month by more than inflation. Already partially dependent on housing benefit, she has had no choice but to seek new accommodation. The search is proving difficult – most managing agents aren’t interested when she mentions housing benefit, while council or social housing is a non-starter.
The latest figures from Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs confirm the tax bonanza the Government is enjoying from the death of the private landlord.
Capital gains tax receipts from the sale of buy-to-let properties are rolling in – and were a big factor behind the surge in overall CGT tax receipts in the last tax year. They totalled £18.1 billion, compared to £15.3 billion in the previous tax year.
With the annual tax-free allowance for crystallised capital gains now standing at £6,000 (compared to £12,300 in the tax year just ended) and reducing to £3,000 next April, CGT receipts from buy-to-let properties are likely to keep on rising.
Good news for the cash-strapped taxman, but awful for tenants. Short-termism at its maddest and most destructive.
Don’t miss out on this £3k top-up
Pension credit is a benefit that can make a meaningful difference to the lives of those who have hit state pension age and are struggling to make ends meet. Yet it’s not handed out automatically – it has to be claimed.
Sadly, for various reasons – pride, lack of awareness or a perception (misconception) that it is difficult to claim – more than 850,000 retirees are missing out by sitting on their hands. The result is that pensioners are losing out to the tune of around £3,300 a year.
The credit is available to people on income of less than £201.05 a week – £306.85 in the case of couples, both of whom must be over state pension age. Income includes your state pension, savings and investments, earnings and most social security benefits.
Details on how to claim are available at gov.uk/pension-credit/how-to-claim. Those who make a successful claim by Friday will also be entitled to a cost-of-living payment worth £301. It may entitle you to housing benefit and a reduction on council tax. Don’t be shy – apply.
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