A lack of action from the Government to tackle declining cash acceptance could lead to a two-tier society - with the most vulnerable bearing the cost, a new report by the Treasury Committee has found.
During its research, the Committee heard directly from vulnerable groups, including people with learning disabilities, domestic abuse victims and the elderly, that buying essential goods and services can cost more as the number of places where they can spend their cash is reduced.
People who are already at increased risk of poverty will, therefore, face a poverty premium if cash is not widely accepted by businesses and other organisations. T
The acceptance of cash in the UK is not currently specified in any legislation. This means businesses and organisations could choose not to accept cash with no legal duty to accommodate customers’ varying needs.
Evidence submitted during the course of the inquiry sets out the challenge when attempting to assess levels of cash acceptance in the UK. For example, data from researchers LINK in 2024 found half of respondents had been somewhere that didn’t accept cash or discouraged it in the previous eight weeks. However, when polled by Savanta, 98% of small businesses said they accepted cash.
In the report, the Treasury Committee calls on the Government to undertake vastly improved monitoring and reporting of cash acceptance levels. If it doesn’t, it rsays it risks creating a two-tier system where vulnerable groups become excluded from community spaces.
When appearing before the Committee, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury stated, “we have no plans to regulate businesses, big or small, to compel them to accept cash.”
The report also highlights the national resilience benefits of maintaining the ability to spend physical cash, particularly in relation to recent bank outages.
Chair of the Treasury Select Committee, Dame Meg Hillier MP (left) said: “The Government is in the dark on how widely cash is being accepted and that’s completely unsustainable. We’re at risk of a two-tier society where the most vulnerable bear the brunt and this needs to be a wakeup call. A sizeable minority depend on being able to use cash and they must not be forgotten by Whitehall.
“As a society, we must avoid sleepwalking into a situation where cash is no longer widely accepted. This is the beginning, not the end, of our scrutiny of this issue. The Government needs to take this seriously.”
Responding to the report, the Association of Convenience Stores chairman, James Lowman - who proivided oral evidence to the committee in December, said: “We strongly welcome this report, which highlights the continued importance of cash to customers and the commitment that our sector has made to supporting customers who want or need to pay with cash.”
You can read the full report here.
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