logo
Cockermouth Banking Hub opens after loss of town's last branch

Cockermouth Banking Hub opens after loss of town's last branch

BBC News08-07-2025
A banking hub has opened following the closure of a town's last bank branch.Owner Cash Access UK said the facility in Cockermouth, Cumbria, would enable people to access services from several banks at one location.It comes after the loss of Barclays earlier this year with HSBC, Lloyds, NatWest and Santander also having left the town.Joe Murray, chair of the Cockermouth & District Chamber of Trade, said the hub on Main Street would provide an "essential service".
Run by the Post Office, customers of all major banks and building societies will be able to carry out cash transactions at the counter.For more complicated queries, a community banker service will run Monday to Friday, between 09:00 and 17:00, allowing customers to speak to staff from their bank.The community bankers will work on rotation with each bank or building society operating from the hub one day per week:Monday: HalifaxTuesday: NatWestWednesday: BarclaysThursday: HSBCFriday: LloydsA community banker from HSBC will be joining the hub soon, according to Cash Access UK.Cat Farrow, the firm's customer and strategy director, said the site's opening ensured "crucial access to cash and face-to-face banking services for residents and businesses across the community".Mr Murray also welcomed the development."We've all seen the decline of High Street banking that's been going on for several years, so this is a service the town needs."We're pleased the hub has been able to open relatively quickly."We have a wide demographic in Cockermouth and some people do still rely on going into a bank. For them, it's an essential service."It also makes things easier for businesses when it comes to things like paying in money."
Follow BBC Cumbria on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

The future of CX research: context and closeness in a demanding world
The future of CX research: context and closeness in a demanding world

The Independent

time24 minutes ago

  • The Independent

The future of CX research: context and closeness in a demanding world

The Harris Poll UK, a Stagwell Company is a Business Reporter client Exceptional customer experience doesn't happen by chance. It's engineered from a deep foundation of continuous customer understanding. In a marketplace defined by rapid change and rising expectations, businesses can no longer afford to assume they can anticipate customer needs. The smartest organisations are turning CX research into a strategic asset – and here's how they're doing it. Executive teams need to reframe market research as a foundational driver of successful CX – fuelling agility, loyalty and sustainable growth. At the heart of this transformation is a simple but powerful truth: context matters. And in a demanding world, the brands that thrive will be those that remain genuinely close to their audiences – not just through dashboards and KPIs, but through dynamic, two-way dialogue. Elevating CX tracking with targeted, agile research to move from 'what' to 'what next' In fast-moving markets, where customer expectations can shift overnight as a result of economic volatility, technological disruption or cultural change, organisations need more than trendlines to drive strategy. This is where custom research studies, conducted alongside your CX tracker, become indispensable. This creates a dynamic, closed-loop system where performance signals spark exploration and contextual findings enrich future tracking. This built-in agility allows you to respond quickly to reputational risk, a regulatory change or an emerging customer trend – without losing sight of the bigger picture. There's a strong competitive advantage when the same researcher partner oversees all research elements. This allows for non-siloed, connected insights which are discovered faster and cheaper – and guarantees that nothing is missed. The Harris Poll UK, A Stagwell Company, is currently working with a multi-channel retailer and has embedded custom, context-rich research into its CX tracking programme. In doing so, they have been able to do three key things: first, truly understand what customers are thinking when they provide a score for 'quality.' Second, size how many pain points might be remedied with an additional sales consultancy step in the purchase journey; and third, maximise conversion rates for online add-ons through making changes to the digital purchase experience. This integrated approach delivers a holistic, agile view of the customer experience which empowers the business to stay ahead of change with clear, actionable solutions. Bring society into the boardroom with Consumer Polling alongside your CX scorecards The most forward-thinking CX leaders understand that staying close to people means looking into the broader societal context that shapes customer expectations. It's not just about knowing what your customers thought last month – it's about understanding how public attitudes, cultural dynamics and shifting priorities are shaping how your target audience feel and behave right now. Consumer polling alongside your CX scorecards becomes a strategic asset when it captures real-time sentiment from both customers and the wider public. Unlike static surveys, it brings societal context into the boardroom including the trends, anxieties and expectations that shape brand perception. Frequent polling helps businesses stay aligned with what truly matters, especially in disruptive times. Whether it's economic uncertainty, political instability or evolving views on sustainability, this type of research helps executive teams interpret the emotional and cultural backdrop of customer decisions. Retailers have benefited from The Harris Poll UK's consumer polling. They gained timely insights into public sentiment around fashion purchases amid the cost-of-living crisis and the growing appeal of pre-loved clothing. The research bridged the gap between CX insights and societal context, equipping brands with an understanding of shifting priorities and ways their CX should evolve to compete where consumers are spending less. Crucially, when this polling is embedded within the same agency-led CX ecosystem that manages your tracking and customer experience strategy, the value multiplies. The result is a more joined-up, contextual understanding of the customer landscape, where next steps are informed by both lived experience and societal mood. Knowing what people truly care about shapes decisions that resonate both commercially and culturally. Uncover and understand meaningful CX Signals with expert-guided Community dialogue Digital insight communities represent a fundamental transformation in how brands connect with their audiences. These always-on platforms foster an ongoing, living dialogue with consumers – enabling co-creation, concept testing and the exploration of complex issues over time. Unlike traditional surveys that capture snapshots, insight communities generate rich, evolving engagement with highly invested and intelligently profiled participants. The true power of these communities is unlocked when they are managed concurrently with a CX programme by a single team of multi-methodology experts. A team with deep sector knowledge and an ear finely tuned to the broader UK population, beyond your existing customer base, ensures insights from the community are not isolated but fully integrated into your CX strategy. This then provides a holistic, contextualised view of customer experiences and wider consumer attitudes. A prominent UK financial services company partnered with The Harris Poll UK, A Stagwell Company, to leverage its multi-methodology expertise, sector knowledge and broad perspective to co-create impactful customer experiences before, and during, the launch of new proposition features. The always-on, rapid feedback targeted cohorts in the Insight Community. This quickly uncovered early pain points and highlighted whether the new features successfully remedied previous issues. This approach allowed the brand to not only refine processes and messaging, but its full launch strategy. It optimised the complete customer experience ahead of the enhanced proposition being scaled to a larger customer base. The future of CX research isn't just about gathering more, better or faster data – AI is already advancing that front and will continue to do so. It's about building stronger relationships through empathy, relevance and action. In a fragmented and demanding world, customers gravitate toward brands that make them feel heard, respected and understood. That means building on dashboards and trackers. It means investing in agile methods, consumer context and deeper dialogues that help teams move with clarity and confidence. When done right, CX research doesn't just inform strategy – it becomes the strategy. Because in the end, the brands that listen closest – and act fastest – are the ones customers will choose. The Harris Poll UK is a leading market research company that provides some of the UK's best-loved brands with game-changing insights through CX, insight communities, custom research and consumer polling. We use a combination of our proprietary software alongside advisory services to deliver data insights via flexible service models. Visit our website, to find out more.

Revealed: The age group most affected by pension changes – and how much they could lose
Revealed: The age group most affected by pension changes – and how much they could lose

The Independent

time24 minutes ago

  • The Independent

Revealed: The age group most affected by pension changes – and how much they could lose

The age bracket which stands to lose out the most from potential changes to the state pension age has been revealed after Labour's recently announced review into the current age of retirement. Millions of workers could lose more than £17,000 if an increase to the age at which the state pension can be claimed is moved forward, analysis by a wealth management firm has found. This is one of the more commonly speculated possibilities that could come from the government's state pension review, announced by work and pensions minister Liz Kendall last week. Governments are legally required to carry out a review of the state pension age every six years. The last one concluded in 2023, while this one is due to finish in 2029. It must give at least 10 years' notice for any state pension age change. Currently set at 66, and rising to 67 by 2028, the state pension age is the point at which a person is able to retire from work and receive the government-funded state pension. The figure is set to rise to 68 by 2046, but there is a strong possibility this is pushed forward by ministers in a bid to rein in massive spending on the state pension. Such a move was actually proposed by the previous pensions review, suggesting the rise to 68 be completed by 2039, but was never acted on by the government. New analysis by wealth management firm Rathbones has now found that if the deadline was pushed back even to 2039-41, workers aged 51 to 53 now would stand to lose out the most. This is because they would lose a full year of state pension payments that they would otherwise be receiving. Because of the triple-lock guarantee, which sees the state pension rise by at least 2.5 per cent every year, workers currently aged 51 would lose out on £17,774 from the change, Rathbones calculated. For those aged 52, it would be £16,918, and for those aged 51, it would be £17,340. Rebecca Williams, divisional lead of financial planning at Rathbones, said: 'With longevity increasing and population pressures mounting, future generations appear set to face a less generous state pension regime than that enjoyed by many of today's retirees. The situation appears particularly precarious for those in their early 50s who face real prospect of missing out. 'The state pension alone is not enough for a comfortable retirement. Individuals need a broad foundation built on workplace pensions, private savings, and the ongoing support of pension tax relief. Cracks are beginning to show in the system, and they must be addressed urgently if we are to maintain faith in the UK's pension framework and ensure people are equipped not just to survive, but to thrive in later life.' In her statement last week, Ms Kendall had noted that by the 2070s, the number of pensioners is expected to have increased by over 50 per cent, whereas the working age population will have only grown by over 10 per cent. She said that this makes 'it even more imperative to help future pensioners put into a savings pot they can rely on in the future'. Ms Kendall warned: 'My big worry is, so many young people have not even got a hope in hell of getting on the housing ladder, they're being absolutely killed by their rent, and if you are paying off your mortgage in retirement, or still renting in retirement, that is what is driving this sort of tsunami of pensioner poverty that is coming our way.' The minister told reporters: 'Put simply, unless we act, tomorrow's pensioners will be poorer than today's, because people who are saving aren't saving enough for their retirement. 'And crucially, because almost half of the working age population isn't saving anything for their retirement at all.'

Santander axes 2,000 jobs and warns more cuts are possible
Santander axes 2,000 jobs and warns more cuts are possible

The Independent

time24 minutes ago

  • The Independent

Santander axes 2,000 jobs and warns more cuts are possible

High street lender Santander UK revealed it has axed over 2,000 jobs and warned more roles may need to be cut as part of an ongoing overhaul. Mike Regnier, chief executive of Santander in the UK, said the year-on-year drop in its workforce comes as part of a 'simplification and automation' drive as it ramps up the use of technology and as customers switch to online banking. He told the PA news agency there 'might well be' more job cuts on the way by the end of 2025 as the bank continues its restructure. But he said it was too early to say what impact the £2.65 billion deal recently announced by its Spanish owner to buy UK rival TSB would have on jobs and branches. His comments came as the group reported a 5% fall in pre-tax profits to £764 million for the first six months of 2025, with provisions for liabilities and charges up 74% to £249 million, driven by 'higher transformation-related charges'. The group announced last October it was axing more than 1,400 jobs across the UK bank in 2024 and has since warned around another 750 jobs were at risk after revealing in March that it was closing another 95 branches and reducing hours at 50 sites. Mr Regnier told PA: 'Transformation is not a one-off thing. 'Whilst we have done a lot over the past year, our transformation journey will need to continue.' He said the group would try to avoid compulsory redundancies where possible and added there were no immediate plans for further branch closures. There has been speculation over whether Banco Santander's deal to buy TSB from Spanish rival Sabadell would lead to further job cuts and branch closures, with the tie-up expected to lead to at least £400 million in cost savings. Mr Regnier said the group had 'made no decisions around branches because we are still waiting to complete the deal'. But he said the takeover 'accelerates our transformation, allowing us to enhance our customer proposition and invest more in innovative products and our digital offering'. The takeover is expected to complete in the first quarter of 2026. Santander is also awaiting the outcome of a crucial Supreme Court judgment on the car finance commission scandal on Friday, which is set to have a bearing on the Financial Conduct Authority's plans for a compensation scheme. The bank put by a £295 million provision in 2024 for the affair, which it said 'continues to reflect the Santander UK group's best estimate'. But it cautioned the outcome could have to change following the judgment. The group said: 'Santander UK will consider the outcome of the Supreme Court judgment and any subsequent steps the Financial Conduct Authority proposes to take once known, which could lead to a change in the value of the provision. 'As such, the ultimate financial impact could be materially higher or lower than the amount provided.' Its half-year results showed mortgage loans were flat at £167.2 billion in the first half, though the bank expects a 'gradual return' to net mortgage lending in 2025, adding its pipeline was good heading into the second half. The wider Banco Santander group reported record net income of 6.8 billion euros (£5.9 billion) for the first half, but revealed a 467 million euro (£403 million) charge for its Brazilian arm due to the country's economic outlook.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store