Recommendation 121

HM Government Accepted

The Government agrees that it is important for businesses and local government to support financial inclusion, and they must uphold any legal obligations they have. It is for individual businesses to decide which methods of payment they accept. However, broadly, the Equality Act (2010) prohibits service providers who provide a service to the public or part of the public, including businesses and local government, from discriminating against a person who requires the service because of a protected characteristic. In addition, service providers have a duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled persons. However, the Act does not specifically mandate that cash must be accepted. Service providers should consider their obligations under the Act in relation to the payment methods they accept. For example, if only accepting non-cash payments places disabled customers at a substantial disadvantage, a service provider may need to consider putting in place reasonable adjustments. Enforcement of the Equality Act 2010 is the responsibility of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), an independent statutory body with the responsibility to encourage equality and diversity, eliminate unlawful 8 2024-payments-survey.pdf 9 ACS Local Shop Report 2024 (low res).pdf discrimination, and protect and promote the human rights of everyone in Britain. The EHRC provide specific guidance for businesses and the public sector on how to meet their legal obligations.10 Furthermore, public sector entities are bound by the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED), a legal requirement for public authorities and organisations carrying out public functions requiring them to consider, at the formative stage, the potential consequences of their decisions for people who share protected characteristics and to take these consequences into account before the decision is finalised. It should be noted that the Public Sector Equality Duty does not prevent public authorities from taking particular decisions. However, a public authority must be able to show that there has been proper consideration of the aims of the duty within the decision- making process. Recommendation 7 There may come a time in the future where it becomes necessary for HM Treasury to mandate cash acceptance if appropriate safeguards have not been implemented for those who need physical cash, and the level of cash acceptance begins to lead to widespread detriment. To ensure that HM Treasury has the information it needs to make this decision, cash acceptance levels in the UK must be monitored to ensure we do not sleepwalk into a loss of cash acceptance for those who need it. HM Treasury must provide the Treasury Committee with annual reporting on cash acceptance levels and provide an analysis of HM Treasury’s view of the tolerable level of cash acceptance in society.