Community Cash Advisory Panel

The Panel’s members bring independent expertise to their work. They represent consumer and business groups. 

We are committed to working in the interests of communities and consumers. That's why this independent panel scrutinises our work, and publishes opinions on the effectiveness of the critieria. 

In 2022, we began to assess the impact of bank branch closures on communities. Working with set Criteria agreed by banks and building societies, we determine where new shared cash services such as banking hubs are needed. We do this work when a bank branch closes, or whenever someone highlights a problem to us.  

For a community to get shared services, it needs to meet the Criteria.

The Community Cash Advisory Panel is an independent body which oversees this work, and ensures that we have applied the Criteria correctly. It also considers whether the Criteria are meeting the needs of consumers and businesses across the UK.  

The panel publishes opinions about whether the criteria are working, including suggestions about how they could change. The Panel meets three times a year.  

The Panel’s members bring independent expertise to their work. They represent consumer and business groups.

Joanna Wallace - Independent Chair of the Panel

The first part of Joanna's professional career was in healthcare management and leadership. After working in management consultancy and in the USA, she held NHS Chief Executive posts from 1997 to 2005, when she became Chief Executive of a UK subsidiary of Astra Zeneca PLC.  She made a career change in April 2013 becoming the Independent Case Examiner for the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), a role she was reappointed to in 2019, and still holds. She has NED experience in higher and further education and was a member of the National Sentencing Advisory Panel within the Ministry of Justice. She has a BSc(Hons) in Architecture from UCL, and an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley.

Martin McTague - Federation of Small Businesses

Prior to becoming National Chair in 2022, Martin served as National Vice Chair, Policy & Advocacy, and has been a volunteer with FSB for more than 20 years. As National Chair, Martin works closely with Government and opposition leaders, working to ensure that FSB members’ views are represented at the most senior levels. He has been running his own business for 35 years and currently owns and manages three businesses, offering public policy, engineering and IT consultancy services.

Sian Williams - Independent Member

Sian brings 15 years of experience of working alongside people experiencing financial and social exclusion to identify systemic failures and co-design policies and systems to increase inclusion. Her roles at Toynbee Hall, an East London social reform charity, and Switchback, a resettlement charity for young men leaving prison, have given her unique insight into how mainstream services fail to meet the needs of our most marginalised communities. Sian has made significant contributions to the national debate on access to cash, championing the need for greater financial inclusion on a range of industry and independent bodies, including the Link Consumer Council, the Access to Cash Review Panel and the Cash Action Group.

Christopher Brooks - AgeUK

Chris is Head of Policy at Age UK, the leading national charity for older people. Chris heads up the organisation’s public policy work across a range of areas, managing a team of Policy Managers covering issues such as energy, housing, benefits, poverty, scams and equalities. He also leads Age UK’s work on financial services, including banking and pensions. Chris has worked at Age UK since May 2010, prior to which he worked at the awarding body City & Guilds and the financial services public affairs consultancy Lansons.