Cash acceptance inquiry continues with second session on high street impact
Next Tuesday, representatives from the high street will share their views on whether rules are needed to force certain businesses and services to always accept physical cash as the Treasury Committee inquiry into the issue continues.
Meeting details
The Post Office, Association of Convenience Stores, National Association of British Market Authorities (NAMBA) and Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW) will all put forward their views at next week’s hearing.
This will be the second session of the inquiry. On Wednesday 4 December, MPs heard evidence from charities and campaign groups on the challenges faced by certain communities as some businesses take the decision to move to card payments only.
Deidre Cartwright, from domestic abuse charity Surviving Economic Abuse, told the Committee that victim-survivors of economic abuse often rely on paying with cash, but that it’s become more difficult since the pandemic:
We had one victim-survivor share with us that the abuser would not allow her access to a bank account at all and instead would give her a weekly cash budget that she was allowed to go and spend. As restrictive as that is, she at least had a degree of control over how she spent that money. Then, when covid hit and everything went contactless, she said, “This is even worse for me, because he can scrutinise every single penny I save or spend.
Members of the Committee may seek to understand the diversity of experiences between different sectors, including whether smaller firms in some industries might struggle with the additional cost of handling physical money.
MPs may also ask for the witnesses' views on cash usage trends following recent figures released by the British Retail Consortium which show increased use of cash for the second year in a row.