Select committee: Treasury Committee
Conclusion 123
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 ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
We note that this debate is being conducted in other countries, and more interventionist approaches are being considered than is currently acceptable to the UK’s Government. We note with interest the range of approaches to cash in these similar countries, including the approach taken by the European Union and Australia which explicitly sets cash acceptance as inextricably linked to cash access. Other countries have focused on providing digital solutions to some of the issues posed by the decline in cash usage and acceptance, such as Singapore’s MyMoneySense platform and state-backed payment systems such as UPI in India and PIX in Brazil, which lower costs for merchants. (Conclusion)
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".