Bank and Building Society branches across Bradford District during Covid-19 MAY 2020 Contents Foreword 2 Methodology 3 Summary of Findings 4 The National Picture 6 Bradford in Context 8 Constituency Level Reports 9 Bradford East 10 Bradford South 11 Bradford West 12 Keighley 14 Shipley 16 Dataset 18 References 23 1 foreword The Green Party believe that the banking system is failing to support the most vulnerable in our society. We accept that technological innovation has drastically changed the banking industry with more people than ever before using online, mobile or telephone banking to complete many of their day to day banking activities. However, physical bank and building society branches are a vital lifeline to many elderly, vulnerable and rural customers. Many self-employed people and SMEs also rely on physical branches to provide cash banking facilities and face to face advice. Over the last twenty-five years bank and building society branches have closed at a staggering rate. The research we have conducted has shown that many areas of Bradford District have significantly less coverage of physical branches than the regional and national average. In fact, Bradford South is one of only eight parliamentary constituencies in the country where there is only one bank branch. The coronavirus crisis of 2020 has forced many of us to change our day to day activities and whilst banking has been identified as a key activity by the UK government, many banks have temporarily closed branches and nearly all have significantly reduced opening hours. This has accelerated the use of digital banking but it is the most vulnerable in our society who continue to need access to branches. There is already discusion that this sudden uptake in digital banking could accelerate branch closures. 2 Methodology The purpose of this report is to investigate the coverage of banks and building societies across Bradford District and then identify the impact of temporary branch closures on residents. To produce this report, the branch locator tools for nine of the largest retail bank brands and three building societies with a branch network in the UK. These are: Banks HSBC Lloyds Bank (excluding Halifax) Halifax TSB Natwest / RBS Barclays Santander Yorkshire Bank (part of Virgin Money) The Co-operative Bank Building Societies Nationwide Yorkshire Building Society Skipton Building Society In all cases with the exception of Lloyds Bank and Halifax (where their branch locator tools were not active) the branch locator tools of each institution were used. Each institution’s website was used to identify any temporary branch closures. This data was then compiled to produce the total number of branches in each UK Parliamentary constituency in Bradford District. 3 Summary of findings There are currently 37 bank branches and 11 building society branches across Bradford District. Prior to the coronavirus crisis, bank and building society branch coverage across Bradford District was below national average in four out of five constituencies (Keighley being the exception). During the 2020 coronavirus situation, all banks have reduced opening hours and as of 4th May 2020 no bank or building society branches across Bradford are open on Saturday or Sunday. As of 4th May 2020, four bank branches are temporarily closed (1 x Santander - Wibsey; 3 x Barclays - Bingley, Manningham and Shipley) In normal circumstances, the Keighley constituency is the best served constituency with 14 bank and 6 building society branches - 20 in total). This equates to one branch per 4,875 residents. The Bradford South constituency is the worst served constituency with only one bank branch (Santander - Wibsey) for it’s 105,870 residents. Total Branches Residents Population Building per branch Banks Total Societies Bradford East 119,270 2 0 2 59,635 Bradford South 105,870 1 0 1 105,870 Bradford West 118,760 11 3 14 8,483 Keighley 97,490 14 6 20 4,875 Shipley 95,810 9 2 11 8,710 Total 537,200 37 11 48 11,192 Figure 1. Total number of branches per constituency 4 There are three bank branches earmarked for permanant closure, one in Bradford West (Barclays in Manningham) and two in Shipley (Barclays in Bingley and TSB in Shipley). Taking into account current temporary branch closures, there has been a drop in the number of bank and building societies available for residents in the Bradford West and Shipley constituencies. As of 25th March there has been no branch or building society available for residents in Bradford South. Total Branches Residents Population Building per branch Banks Total Societies Bradford East 119,270 2 0 2 59,635 Bradford South 105,870 0 0 0 N/A Bradford West 118,760 10 3 13 9,135 Keighley 97,490 14 6 20 4,875 Shipley 95,810 7 2 9 10,646 Total 537,200 37 11 48 12,209 Figure 2. Total number of branches open per constituency as of 4th May 2020 5 The national picture In response to the coronavirus crisis, banks and building societies have temporarily closed branches and significantly reduced opening hours. Both bank and building societies have asked customers to only visit branches to complete “essential transactions”. The number of banks and building societies in the UK has been the source of significant focus over the last 25 years. On 30th January 2020, a briefing paper (CBP08570) was produced for the House of Commons to look into this issue. The paper identified that in 2019 there were 10,405 bank or building society branches in the UK. This was broken down to 8,525 bank branches and 1,880 building society branches. The number of bank branches in the UK has been falling since the mid-1990s. However, the number of building society branches has been broadly steady - 0% 10% 20% East Wales London Scotland N. Ireland N. North East South East North West South West UK Average East Midlands West Midlands West Yorkshire & the Humber Yorkshire Figure 3. % change in the number of branches, 2012 to 2019 (source ONS) 6 although this has started to increase in recent years due to several significant mergers of building societies - particularly in Yorkshire. Between the years 2012 and 2019, the total number of bank and building society branches in the UK has fallen by 22%. The Yorkshire & the Humber region has seen the second highest number of bank branch closures with 25% closing between 2012 and 2019. 7 Bradford in context The national statistics look at the total number of banks and building societies per 10,000 people as an indicator of how well an area is served. The national average is 1.6 branches per 10,000 people with the Yorkshire and the Humber region being slightly below average at 1.4 branches per person. Total no. Branches / Population branches 10,000 people Bradford East 119,270 2 0.17 Bradford South 105,870 1 0.09 Bradford West 118,760 14 1.18 Keighley 97,490 20 2.05 Shipley 95,810 11 1.15 Bradford Average 537,200 48 0.89 Yorkshire & the 1.4 Humber Average National Average 1.6 Figure 4. Total number of branches per 10,000 residents This data shows that even prior to the coronavirus crisis, the coverage of banks in Bradford District as a whole is significantly lower than the national and regional average. At a constituency level, four of the five constituencies are below regional and national average with only the Keighley constituency being above. This will reduce further when planned branch closures take place. 8 Constituency level reports 9 Bradford east Constituency Population: 119,270 The wards in this constituency are: Bolton and Undercliffe, Bowling and Barkerend, Bradford Moor, Eccleshill, Idle and Thackley and Little Horton Total Number of bank branches: 2 Total Number of building society branches: 0 Number of residents per branch: 59,635 Bank Branches: Lloyds Bank 983 Leeds Rd, Bradford, BD3 7ND Natwest 151 New Line, Greengates, Bradford, BD10 0BT 10 Bradford South Constituency Population: 105,870 The wards in this constituency are: Great Horton, Queensbury, Royds, Tong, Wibsey, and Wyke. Total Number of bank branches: 1 Total Number of building society branches: 0 Number of residents per branch: 105,870 Bank Branches: Santander 9 Folly Hall Rd, Wibsey, BD6 1UL (Temporarily closed since 25th March) 11 Bradford West Constituency Population: 118,760 The wards in this constituency are: City, Clayton and Fairweather Green, Heaton, Manningham, Thornton and Allerton, and Toller. Total Number of bank branches: 11 Total Number of building society branches: 3 Number of residents per branch: 8,483 Bank Branches: HSBC 47 Market St, Bradford BD1 1LW Lloyds Bank City Office, Bradford BD1 1NT Halifax 28 Bank St, Bradford BD1 1PT TSB 4 Tyrrel St, Bradford BD1 1RJ Natwest 1 Market St, Bradford BD1 1EG RBS 45, 47 Bank St, Bradford BD1 1TS 12 Barclays 10 Market St, Bradford BD1 1EG Barclays 2 Carlisle St, Manningham, BD8 7PA (Temporarily closed - branch to close permanently on 19th June) Santander 2 Darley St, Bradford BD1 3HR Yorkshire Bank 14 Broadway, Bradford BD1 1TW Co-operative Bank 6 Tyrrel St, Bradford BD1 1RJ Building society Branches: Nationwide 1 Tyrrel St, Bradford BD1 1RU Yorkshire BS Howard House, 6 Bank St, Bradford BD1 1EE Skipton BS 53 Market St, Bradford BD1 1LH 13 Keighley Constituency Population: 97,490 The wards in this constituency are: Craven, Ilkley, Keighley Central, Keighley East, Keighley West, and Worth Valley Total Number of bank branches: 14 Total Number of building society branches: 6 Number of residents per branch: 4,875 Bank Branches: HSBC 1 Wells Rd, Ilkley LS29 9JB HSBC 36 North St, Airedale Centre, Keighley BD21 3SF Lloyds Bank 54 North St,