The Equality and Human Rights Commission announced today that it is working with the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to promote access for disabled people to its mobile branches.
Speaking today Lynn Welsh, the Commission’s Head of Legal in Scotland said:
We are pleased to be able to announce this positive move from RBS to ensure that their mobile branches are accessible to disabled people.
This includes introducing adjustments for visually impaired customers and those with hearing loss, as well as exploring how the van can be adapted to provide wheelchair access.
The bank will also be improving its communication with disabled customers, providing further training to staff and, on our recommendation, is strengthening its work with disabled people’s organisations.
This is particularly important because we know that disabled people are less likely to use the internet compared with non-disabled people. This means that many disabled people still rely on and need to be able to access local banking services to do day-to-day things, like withdraw and transfer money, get financial advice and pay bills.
RBS agreed to work with us after we provided advice and guidance about how they could identify additional steps to improve the accessibility of mobile banking services.
The bank has agreed to keep us informed about the progress they are making.