The National Association of Local Councils (NALC) has pressed the trade association for banks (UK Finance) and its member banks to improve their services to local councils.
Representatives from NALC, which represents the interests of 10,000 local (parish and town) councils in England, along with the Lincolnshire and Norfolk associations of local councils met with UK Finance recently to make the case.
It comes following a groundswell of recent complaints from authorities to NALC of poor banking services across England.
The types of complaint raised to NALC have been continuous change requests to bank mandates, long waits and unresolved problems with telephone banking, as well as banks asking for all councillors on a council to become bank mandate signatories.
Following an extensive survey of its member councils on the issue by the Oxfordshire Association of Local Councils, NALC drafted and submitted a headline report on this matter to UK Finance and they have referred the matter to their member banks.
In previous weeks, the Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire associations of local councils have also sent NALC extensive survey summary results for their own bank's survey.
NALC will summarise these results in a further report for UK Finance in early May and will request an update meeting with them at that point.
