The letter, signed by 37 MPs, says the UK’s ATM network, which was already fragile due to cuts to the interchange fee, is now in imminent danger of collapse due to the Covid-19 emergency. The Covid-19 pandemic is radically changing cash usage in the UK, with ATM withdrawals falling 60% during the lockdown and three quarters of Brits reporting that their use of paper money is down. The letter derides the Link ATM network's guarantee that communities facing cash shortages will have their fee-free cash machines replaced by a member bank. "Whilst we welcome any measures which support access to cash, this will not address the root cause of why access to cash is declining," writes the coalition of politicians. "The measure is derisory, addressing only future ATM losses and not those that have already been lost or converted to pay to use. Link’s pledge will only protect ATMs for 12 months and, while Link states this will benefit 3,800 ATMs, it will in reality only cover a small proportion of these machines which it considers ‘critical'."

https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/35887/mps-warn-of-danger-to-cash-as-atm-withdrawals-plummet