An increase in staff availability will enable the Cumberland Building Society to extend the opening hours at its Keswick branch from next week.
The office in Station Street will be open from 10am to 2pm every Wednesday from 29th April. It used to be open six days a week before the coronvirus crisis reduced that to just one day a fortnight.
The temporary measures were introduced to protect staff and customers, said a spokesman for The Cumberland. Many staff were in the “at risk” category and were staying at home as a precaution and self-isolating or caring for family members, he added.
From this Thursday, the building society is partially re-opening six other branches for one day a week from 10am to 2pm. It had closed 14 last month and moved temporarily centralised services to its regional hubs, the nearest to Keswick being Cockermouth.
“These actions will help us to limit face-to-face interactions and ensure we have enough healthy colleagues to allow us to provide a continued service over the coming weeks and months,” the spokesman added.
The Cumberland’s full network of cash machines remains available as normal. However, seven branches remain closed.