Barclays is to join Royal National Institute of Blind People’s (RNIB) campaign by committing to roll out ‘talking ATMs’ towards the end of next year.

The Make Money Talk campaign aims to make ATMs more accessible to the nearly 400,000 registered blind and partially sighted people in the UK through audio facilities.

Speech output will be deployed on Barclays ATMs through audio jacks so that blind and partially sighted people will be able to plug in their earphones to listen to the options being read out to enable them to carry out their transactions. Currently if a blind or partially sighted person wants to access their own money they need to ask a friend or relative for help or in some cases a passer-by.

Bob Bond, chief UK distribution officer at Barclays, said: “Our announcement today will mean that blind and partially sighted people will have greater access and choice when using ATMs providing increased independence and privacy.