As bank branches and ATMs disappear from our high streets, we must recognise that the officialised push for a cashless society is both biased to many people and a dire threat to our financial freedom and inclusion.
For many in our community, especially the elderly, those on low incomes, and people in rural areas, cash is a life line.
We are seeing a worrying tendency of local businesses in our towns going "card only."
When a local cafe or pharmacy refuses coins, they effectively lock out the 1.1 million unbanked adults in the UK and those who rely on physical money to budget. This is clearly an unacceptable form of social bias.
The following statement by SILVER VOICES (campaign group for senior citizens in the UK) emphasises the essential need for cash in our society.
The Link report states that the main reasons given by businesses for going cashless are fraud prevention, security concerns and lack of customer demand. What tosh! These moves are all about the inconvenience and costs of handling cash, saving staff time and the speed of transactions. The Link Report can be accessed on the following link:
https://www.link.co.uk/media/a0knmcpw/link-cash-acceptance-report.pdf
The Treasury Select Committee published a Report through the House of Commons last year, pointing out that the demise of cash was in danger of creating a two-tier society. The difficulties of using cash on the High Street are compounded by the use of digital only payments for all manner of other services including car parking, leisure and health facilities, entertainments and events.
The Select Committee pointed out that cash is a vital budgeting tool for low-income households as the hard currency can be counted out and made to last, which a flash of the debit card cannot. 1.1 million adults in the UK do not have a bank account at all and many millions struggle with online payments. Older people and those people with learning disabilities are particularly affected. Only 10% of over-75s never use cash at all, according to evidence to the Select Committee. Cash is also used by vulnerable people to evade economic abuse by partners, carers and rogue businesses.
It is true that some businesses are finding it more difficult to deposit cash because of the wholesale closures of local bank branches. According to WHICH, around 7000 bank branches have closed in the last ten years at a rate of about 50 a month, with all the major banks culpable. Hundreds of towns no longer have a single bank branch, making normal non-digital banking operations impossible and cash more difficult to access.
Silver Voices calls for legislation to underpin the role of cash, forcing all businesses and public services to always provide a non-digital payment alternative, including payment by cash. This is the only way cash will be saved in the long term. Instead, the Government sits on its hands, in thrall to the digital revolution, and prioritising businesses over customers. Its official submission to the Treasury Select Committee was “we have no plans to regulate businesses, big or small, to compel them to accept cash.”
You can also do your bit by protesting to the business when you see the card-only sign go up in your favourite shop or café; and take it up with the local newspaper too, to give the business some deserved bad publicity.
Ends.
18 March 2026
...............................
Cash is the only payment method that works during a power cut, requires no smartphone (many people do not own these devices) and offers total privacy.
While digital payments may be convenient, they should be a choice, not an authoritarian mandate that effectively discriminates against our most vulnerable members of society.
We must protect the ancient right to use our traditional notes and coins to ensure our town centres remain open to everyone.
Personal liberty and choice must be placed before authoritarian control!
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
