The Treasury has launched a consultation (1st July), seeking views on how legislation should secure long-term access to cash.
The consultation includes proposals to set a maximum distance that consumers and businesses should have to travel to deposit and access cash without a charge.
This follows a separate Treasury call for evidence last year which sought to understand business and consumer needs around cash. The Government has since legislated via the Financial Services Act 2021 to allow retailers to offer cashback without purchase without registering with the Financial Conduct Authority.
ACS chief executive James Lowman said: “Local shops play a key role in providing communities with access to their cash through ATMs, Post Offices and cashback services. The well-established trend of payments moving away from cash and towards card payments makes it more important, not less, that we have an effective strategy for maintaining access and choice for consumers who want and need to use cash and who may otherwise be left behind.
“The Government needs to take action to honour commitments made over 12 months ago to ensure secure long-term access to cash and provide businesses with support to continue offering this vital service to their customers.”
Findings from ACS’ 2020 Local Shop Report demonstrate the vital role that local shops play in providing their communities with access to their cash, through cashback (68%), free-to-use ATMs (49%), pay-to-use ATMs (22%) and Post Offices (22%).
The consultation will run until 23rd September and ACS will be responding in due course.
