How many building societies are there in the UK?

There are 42 building societies in the UK. Between them they run approximately 1,300 branches, hold a 35% share of branches across the UK, and serve almost 26 million customers, who are their members rather than shareholders¹.

That is a small number of organisations running a large share of the country's remaining branch network. Building societies are mutuals: they are owned by the people who save with them and borrow from them, not by outside shareholders. The sector employs around 52,300 full and part-time staff, with all of the headquarters outside London, and building societies and mutual-owned banks hold residential mortgages of almost £495 billion, 29% of the total outstanding in the UK².

The count of 42 has been stable for several years, but the branch network behind it has not. Building society branches fell from 6,954 in 1986 to 1,925 in 2023, a decline that has reshaped what a building society looks like on the average high street⁴.

What a building society is and how it differs from a bank

A building society is a mutual institution offering savings and mortgage accounts and, often, a wide range of other financial services⁵. The word mutual is the whole difference. A bank is generally owned by shareholders, who expect a dividend. A building society is owned by its members, and the members are its customers. There is no external shareholder taking a slice of the profit, which is one reason building societies have historically been associated with competitive savings rates and mortgage pricing.

That ownership model has practical consequences for a saver. Members of a building society have rights that bank customers do not, including the ability to vote at the annual general meeting and, in some circumstances, to receive a share of the society's assets if it is taken over or converted. The trade body for the sector describes building societies and credit unions together as customer-owned financial institutions based across the UK in local communities⁶.

For day-to-day saving, though, the difference is smaller than the ownership language suggests. Building societies offer the same kinds of accounts as banks: easy access, notice, fixed-rate bonds and cash ISAs. They are authorised and regulated in the same way, and deposits are protected by the same scheme. If you are choosing where to put money, the ownership model is one factor among several, alongside the rate, the access terms and the branch or app you would actually use. Our guide to what a building society is and how it works sets out the model in more detail, and saving with a bank or a building society compares the two directly.

Mutual-owned banks and credit unions alongside building societies

The 42 building societies are not the whole mutual sector. The Building Societies Association represents all 42 UK building societies, including both mutual-owned banks, as well as a number of the largest credit unions². Mutual-owned banks are banks that operate on mutual principles, and they sit alongside building societies in the same trade body.

Credit unions are a separate kind of organisation again. Building societies and credit unions are both customer-owned financial institutions based across the UK in local communities, but they are not the same thing and they are not counted together⁶. As of July 2023, there were 42 building societies and seven credit unions in the UK⁷. Credit unions tend to be smaller, often based around a particular community, employer or region, and they are typically used for smaller savings balances and affordable loans. Our guide to credit unions explains how they work, and credit unions vs bank savings accounts compares the two.

The distinction matters if you are trying to count the sector. A figure of 42 refers to building societies only. Add the mutual-owned banks and the credit unions and you are describing a wider group of customer-owned institutions, which is what the trade body does when it speaks for the sector as a whole.

• Building societies: 42 in the UK⁷
• Credit unions: seven in the UK as of July 2023⁷
• Mutual-owned banks: two, represented by the Building Societies Association alongside the building societies²

Branches: around 1,300 across the UK

Building societies operate through approximately 1,300 branches, holding a 35% share of branches across the UK². That figure has been repeated consistently across the sector's own statements through 2025 and 2026, and an earlier count put the number at almost 1,300 building society branches across the UK¹.

The 1,300 figure is a count of building society branches specifically. It does not include the branches of mutual-owned banks, and it does not include the branches of the large banks. It is also a rounded figure, described as approximately, so it should be read as a scale rather than a precise tally.

For a saver, the practical question behind the number is whether there is a branch near you. Building societies have historically been strongest in places where the large banks have withdrawn, and the sector's own figures show that its share of the remaining branch network has grown even as the absolute number of branches has fallen. If branch access matters to you, the society's own branch finder is the reliable check, because the national figure says nothing about your town. Our guide to how to open a savings account covers what you need to bring if you open one in person.

How the number of branches has fallen since 1986

The long-run decline in building society branches is stark. The number of building society branches in operation fell from 6,954 in 1986 to 1,925 in 2023⁴. That is a fall of 5,029 branches, and it happened alongside a similar contraction across the banking sector as a whole: between 2012 and 2022, the total number of bank and building society branches in the UK fell by 40%⁴.

The pace has not been even. In the two years to June 2023, 1,358 bank and building society branches closed⁸. The number of brick-and-mortar branches of the larger banks and building societies providing personal current accounts fell by 429 branches, a decrease of 8.6%, between the second and fourth quarters of 2022 alone⁹. Between 2012 and 2022, the total number of bank and building society branches in the UK fell by 40%¹⁰. Banks and building societies have closed 6,871 branches since January 2015, at a rate of around 53 each month, according to analysis of the 20 major current account providers¹¹.

The reasons are the same ones that have closed bank branches: more people banking online and by app, fewer counter transactions, and the cost of keeping a branch open. The closures have not fallen evenly across the country. Branches have tended to go first in smaller towns and rural areas, which is why the issue has attracted parliamentary attention and why the Financial Conduct Authority has rules on access to cash and on what banks must do before closing a branch⁸.

Branch share: building societies' place on the high street

Building societies now account for 35% of all high street branches, up from 14% in 2012². That is the most striking number in the sector, because it has risen while the total number of branches has fallen. Building societies have been closing branches too, but the large banks have closed far more, so the building society share of what remains has grown.

The sector's own statements have given the share as 35% repeatedly through 2025 and 2026². Two earlier statements gave it as 30%¹⁵. Where a source gives a figure without a date, treat it as approximate.

The share figure is a useful corrective to the idea that building societies are a small corner of the market. They are not. They hold 29% of residential mortgages outstanding in the UK, worth almost £495 billion, and over £495 billion of retail deposits, accounting for 23% of all such deposits³. Total assets across building societies and mutual-owned banks are almost £670 billion¹⁹. For a saver, the practical point is that a building society is a mainstream place to hold money, not a niche one, and the same protections apply as at a bank.

Who represents building societies in the UK?

The Building Societies Association is the trade association representing mutual lenders and deposit takers, including all of the UK's building societies⁵. It represents all 42 UK building societies, including both mutual-owned banks, as well as a number of the largest credit unions². It is a trade body, not a regulator: it does not authorise firms, set the rules they follow, or handle complaints from customers.

Its role is to speak for the sector to government and regulators, to publish data on the sector, and to run campaigns on issues such as first-time buyer support and scam prevention. It has published research on mortgage affordability, on access to mortgage finance, on ISA reform and on the role building societies play in tackling scams¹³. It has also welcomed changes to credit union rules intended to help more people access affordable loans and savings¹⁴.

If you have a complaint about a building society, the trade body is not the route. Complaints go first to the firm, and then, if unresolved, to the Financial Ombudsman Service. The Financial Services Register, run by the Financial Conduct Authority, is the authoritative check on whether a firm is authorised and what it is permitted to do.

Why the branch figures from different sources do not match

The counts differ because they are counting different things. The Financial Conduct Authority's access to cash data counted 2,935 brick-and-mortar branches of larger banks and building societies providing personal current accounts at the end of the second half of 2025¹². That is a count of branches across the larger providers, not of building societies alone. The same data separately counted 121 brick-and-mortar branches of other, non-designated banks and building societies with ten or more branches¹².

The building society figure of approximately 1,300 is a count of building society branches only². It is smaller than the 2,935 figure because it covers one part of the market, and it is larger than the 121 figure because that figure covers a different, narrower group of providers.

There is a second reason for mismatches: dates. The sector's branch share has been published as both 30% and 35% within a few months of each other, and the number of building societies has been given as 42 in recent years but as 50 in a Building Societies Association count from November 2008². A figure without a date is not comparable with one that has a date. When you see a number quoted for the sector, check what it counts and when it was published before drawing a conclusion from it.