While some of the figures may have been impacted by Covid and lockdown restrictions, the general trend away from cash has people worried.

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Louise Hall, from Stratford, contacted the Herald concerned that a move to online financial transactions would leave a lot of people behind.

“It’s moving towards getting rid of cash and making it all card payments and apps, but not everybody can do that,” she said. “There are great benefits to the internet, of course, but this is a real downside and it’s a concern that a significant proportion of society are not able to access these services and are being disenfranchised. It’s a threat to their personal liberties, really.

“The thing is, not everybody has got an iPhone, or can afford one, and that means a lot of people are going to be disenfranchised. We’re not all tech savvy, and that is a big concern. It’s not just the elderly. It costs money to get iPhones and computers, and a lot of people just don’t have the money. It’s often the people on lower incomes who actually are most in need of help and support and in finding out what they’re entitled to.”

The move towards online banking has coincided with the closures of many bank branches, with Henley now without a high street bank and residents having to rely on fortnightly ‘mobile branches’, as Wotton Wawen resident, Judith Lindley, explained.

“There’s what I call the toy bank from Lloyds, which is supposed to appear on alternate Mondays,” said Judith. “But all too often they’ve had to send notices around saying, ‘We won’t be there today due to circumstances beyond our control’. So, I have to travel to Stratford or Alcester, one of the towns which still has a bricks and mortar bank.

“Internet banking is very convenient in many respects, and because it’s so convenient, I think banks have withdrawn a lot of the services that they used to have. I think it’s wrong, but I realise that banks, like other businesses, will be looking ahead and thinking it’s perhaps a customer dissatisfaction that they expect to die out.”

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The need to protect cash as a payment option led Which? to join forces with the Federation of Small Businesses in 2019 to launch the ‘Freedom to Pay’ campaign. Following this the government pledged in the 2020 Budget to introduce legislation to ensure everyone who needs cash can continue to access it, although this has yet to become law.

Lee Osborne, FSB development manager for Coventry and Warwickshire, said: “Cash is an essential part of the payments mix, particularly for older and more vulnerable customers. So many people will have been hit hard by the loss of bank branches in Stratford district and beyond, cutting off their ability to access cash easily. We need to see a guarantee which enables those who want to use cash to continue doing so – especially in remote and rural areas – alongside a resilient wholesale cash infrastructure to ensure that the use of cash remains viable as its presence declines.”