UK Parliament publishes Government response confirming Bank of England will continue monitoring cash acceptance

UK Parliament’s Treasury Select Committee published the Government’s response to its inquiry into cash acceptance, confirming that the Bank of England will keep monitoring cash acceptance levels on an ongoing basis. This will be done by continuing to include an additional cash acceptance question in the Bank’s consumer survey, which was introduced in January, providing a public sector data source rather than relying only on private sector information. The response notes that UK legislation does not currently specify the acceptance of physical currency for goods and services, meaning businesses and organisations can choose not to accept cash without a legal duty to accommodate customers. The Committee’s report warned that declining cash acceptance could create a two-tier society and disproportionately affect vulnerable groups including people with learning disabilities, domestic abuse victims and the elderly, and it called for improved monitoring to avoid exclusion from community spaces. The Government also agreed that the Financial Conduct Authority’s work to protect access to cash should be used to understand impacts on small businesses’ willingness to accept cash, which the Committee said it will monitor; the Economic Secretary to the Treasury reiterated that there are no plans to compel businesses to accept cash. The Committee indicated it will continue tracking developments and linked expectations for further measures to the Government’s forthcoming Financial Inclusion Strategy.