Barclays faces backlash as it announces plans to close yet more branches

Barclays faced a backlash after announcing plans to close yet more branches across England and Wales amid the shift to online banking.

The bank said it will shut another 14 sites this year – adding to the 55 it has already marked for closure in 2023.

British lenders have now closed nearly 5,500 branches since 2015.

Barclays’s move means customers will need to rely on pop-up sites and ‘banking pods’ if they require in-person support.

Banking pods are semi-permanent sites that can be relocated to different areas depending on demand. Barclays has around ten of them as well as 200 pop-up sites.

‘As visits to branches continue to fall, we need to adapt to provide the best service for all our customers,’ a spokesman said.

‘Where there is no longer enough demand to support a branch, we maintain an in-person presence through our Barclays Local network, live in over 200 locations, based in libraries, town halls, mobile vans and our new banking pods.’

Banks and building societies have closed 5,498 branches since January 2015, or around 54 each month, according to data from consumer site Which?

Barclays has reduced its network the most, with around 971 sites having closed over the last nine years.

Meanwhile, NatWest has shuttered 741 branches, Lloyds around 642, HSBC 629 and Santander 472. Geographically, the South East has seen the largest number of closures since 2015, with 720 branches shuttered and another 46 scheduled to close.

Scotland has also been hit hard with over half of its 1,040 branches now gone.

Closures have been accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic, when customers were forced to use other methods of banking during lockdown.

Last month, the head of HSBC’s UK operation Ian Stuart sparked a furious backlash after claiming the bank’s decision to close hundreds of branches was ‘what customers want’.

Stuart told MPs that while the bank was ‘absolutely committed’ to maintaining a physical presence in the UK, he noted 98 per cent of its transactions in December had been digital.

Another reason for the decline has been falling numbers of cash transactions, with many people opting for card and contactless payments instead.

But critics have argued bank branches are still vital for vulnerable people, the elderly and those who need face-to-face advice, accusing banks of leaving swathes of society with little access to basic services.

‘Bank branch closures don’t just make access to cash more difficult for the millions of people across the country who rely on it, but also cuts vital in-person banking services, which are particularly important for customers who are not ready or able to bank online,’ said Which? Money Editor Jenny Ross.

Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said the ongoing branch closures were making life ‘really difficult’ for elderly people who ‘don’t want to or can’t bank online’.

‘Closing a branch saves a bank money, but it’s not what many older people want or need, having been quite happy with banking face-to-face throughout their lives,’ she added.

Ross said schemes such as banking pods and hubs, locations where multiple banks offer services, were ‘a good start’ but needed to be rolled out ‘much more quickly’ to benefit consumers.

There are worries the hubs are taking too long to set up despite the accelerating pace of branch closures. Which? said at the end of 2022, only two new hubs had been opened in Yorkshire, joining existing trial sites in Lanarkshire and Essex. Another 34 are currently in the pipeline but could still take years to appear.

Ross also raised concerns cash users would need to pay to make withdrawals through ATM fees and that the Government should ‘look again at proposals to introduce guaranteed minimum levels of free access to cash’.

Barclays shares rose 2.3 per cent, or 3.1p, to 137p yesterday.