Campaigners are demanding the Government step in to ensure shops and vital services accept cash payments. A petition signed by more than 40,000 people warns that millions risk being excluded as the use of websites and mobile phone apps for payments grows.
Campaigners warn of 'second-class citizens'
Dennis Reed, of campaign group Silver Voices, said older people were particularly likely to be affected. He said: “From car parks to leisure facilities and events, to shops and stalls, we face notices saying no cash or cheques. They may as well say no pensioners or low-income households, because that is the impact.
“Millions do not possess a smartphone, do not know how to download apps, or are not online at all, and are now being treated as second-class citizens.”
He called on Prime Minister Andy Burnham to pass laws “to ensure that businesses are forced to accept payment by cash or other non-digital means, otherwise our cash economy is finished”.
Petition demands legal protection for cash
The petition is calling for a government strategy “to protect cash for future generations and for legislation to ensure that all businesses and public services are legally required to provide alternative non-digital means for payment”.
It states: “With increasing threats to internet security from criminal hackers and hostile foreign governments, it would be utter madness to have no healthy cash system to fall back on in times of crisis.”
The petition was organised by Alicia Coumbe, 67, from Devon. She said: “Cash is meant to be legal tender and shops should accept it.
“It’s not only more convenient, it’s safer. How many people get scammed on their mobile phones? And it’s far easier to budget using physical money.”
Regulation and the 'two-tier' economy
The Financial Conduct Authority, which regulates banks and other financial service firms, has already introduced rules designed to ensure cash is available across the country, for example, through ATMs.
But while it is sometimes believed that shops are required to accept “legal tender”, there are in fact no laws requiring retailers or service providers to accept cash.
An inquiry by the House of Commons Treasury Committee warned that this is most likely to affect people who do not use online services or have low incomes, including many older people. But it also pointed out that younger people aged 18-24 were the group most likely to have no bank account, and therefore be unable to use many online apps.
The committee was told that many self-service scanners in supermarkets only accepted card or electronic payments, resulting in longer queues for people paying in cash. And many car parks only accept payment using mobile phone apps. Age UK warned that “a significant minority” of older people were unable to make certain car journeys because they would be unable to pay for parking.
MPs warned that the UK could become a “two-tier” economy and said: “The Government must act to manage the decline in cash acceptance.”
