Source · Select Committees · Treasury Committee
Recommendation 117
117
Accepted
Physical cash maintains vital independent role when digital payment systems fail
Conclusion
Digital payments systems are vulnerable to failure for reasons ranging from accidents or hostile actions by state actors, through to failure by a supplier in a retail bank’s digital supply chain. Physical cash has a vital role to play as a payment method that is independent, that is backed by the UK Government and that can be used as an analogue payment method when digital ones fail. (Conclusion)
Government response summary AI-generated
The government commits to continually monitoring and evaluating payments data, including new specific data from the Bank of England's expanded surveys which now includes a question on the impact of businesses refusing cash. However, it does not see a need for annual reporting due to ongoing data evaluation.
Government Response
The government responded to this report on 12 July 2025. No passage in that response could be matched to this conclusion. Read the response document ↗