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Tesco Bank is to offer home deliveries of cash to vulnerable people who are shielding from coronavirus.
Elderly and vulnerable people have risked being cut off financially during the Covid-19 outbreak, as most are not able to visit a cash machine.
Tesco Bank savings and current account customers can now ask for sums of between £20 and £500 to be delivered to their home using a tracked delivery service.
The bank already offers a similar service which allows holidaymakers to have foreign currency posted to their door, but this is the first time pound sterling has been made available for delivery.
Tesco has become one of the first high street banks to offer this service to customers, who can then give the cash to friends, family or volunteers to make essential purchases on their behalf.
A similar scheme was launched by the Post Office last month, but this was limited to about 27,000 customers who claim pensions and other state benefits. The Royal Bank of Scotland will also deliver cash to customers’ homes.
Despite the Government starting to ease lockdown rules, it has still urged people who are considered “clinically extremely vulnerable” to remain at home.
Those affected include people who have had an organ transplant, are undergoing chemotherapy or have a severe lung condition. Tesco said its staff had been trained to identify customers who would benefit from its home delivery service.
Gareth Shaw, of consumer campaign group Which?, said: “It is good to see businesses introducing initiatives to help vulnerable customers access the cash they rely on to pay for essentials during the coronavirus lockdown.
“However, schemes like this one are only a short-term fix. The difficulties people are currently facing demonstrate why the government must act swiftly on its promise to legislate to ensure that consumers have access to cash for as long as they need it.”
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