When HSBC announced that it would be closing the last bank in Pocklington late last year Pocklington Town Council and East Riding of Yorkshire council started working with Link to establish a banking hub in the town.

A hub was recently established in Cottingham and one is also planned for Hornsea.

In February I reported that Link were to establish a cash deposit service instead of a banking hub. In the absence of any further updates from Link, East Riding Council or Pocklington Town Council I wrote to Link earlier this week.

They have confirmed that Pocklington does not meet their criteria for a Banking Hub because there remains a branch of the Nationwide Building Society in the town and they are able to provide a range of personal banking services. They cannot therefore recommend a hub as that would be a breach of competition law.

As Nationwide can only offer very limited banking services for businesses, Link can recommend a deposit service to ensure that businesses can still deposit cash. In addition, the Post office provides a range of everyday banking services.

In the meantime Cash Access UK are currently piloting a variety of solutions across 18 communities with the aim of developing a suite of cash deposit solutions that can then be deployed in communities including Pocklington.

Some solutions are currently live – such as the creation of an enhanced, dedicated banking space in the local Post Office – and are being assessed to determine how effective they are at meeting customers needs. More pilot solutions are expected to be delivered which will include deposit taking ATMs and these will go through a similar assessment process.

Once a preferred solution has been identified deployment will begin from late Q4 2023, into 2024.