Select committee: Treasury Committee
Recommendation 120
6th Report - Acceptance of cash
Published 30 Apr 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Treasury Committee Acceptance of Cash All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
HM Treasury must broaden the terms of reference of the Financial Inclusion Committee on “digital inclusion and access to banking services” explicitly to address the risk that a two-tier economy will lock the digitally excluded out of the economy. HM Treasury must commit to reviewing internally and externally produced evidence on cash access and cash acceptance in the UK and make a public judgment on whether the system is equitably meeting the needs of consumers and businesses every five years. As financial digitalisation continues, HM Treasury must work to ensure that innovation in this space is guided by a commitment to inclusivity, rather than increasing the number of individuals who are digitally and financially excluded. (Recommendation)
From: Treasury Committee, 6th Report - Acceptance of cash (HC 324), 30 April 2025
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 12 July 2025 (deadline 30 June 2025).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government agrees with several of the Committee's aims on cash access and acceptance, says existing measures already "give strong effect to the Committee's aims", and declines to adopt periodic or annual reporting.
- On an interim assessment of the access to cash regime, it says it is "too soon for a formal evaluation", but the FCA has committed to a formal review "in due course" and intends to confirm its timings in writing to the Committee this autumn.
- It supports the continuation of the Payment Systems Regulator's work during and after consolidation, and will consult on the transfer of responsibilities to the FCA "in due course" and legislate "as soon as possible".
- It does not accept the proposed five-yearly public judgment or annual reporting on cash acceptance, stating it will instead "continue to carefully evaluate available data on an ongoing basis".
- On international approaches, it agrees it is important to keep monitoring them and says it "will continue to monitor and assess developments in other countries".