HM TREASURY ALREADY KNOWS EUROPE IS BANNING CASHLESS!
Posted on: 14/07/2025This was the headline on Saturday 12 July on the UK Treasury Committee website: “Bank of England commits to monitoring cash acceptance on an ongoing basis.”
The Bank of Englands commitment to the “monitoring” of cash acceptance consists of, from 2025, expanding its data collection with a SINGLE new question seeking to understand the impact on an individual of a business refusing cash.
The Payment Choice Alliance response to this level of monitoring of cash acceptance?
COMPLETELY INADEQUATE.
The truth is that the Bank of England does not know - and therefore HM Treasury does not know - what % of UK businesses are now refusing to accept cash.
Other Governments HAVE got such data - and the around 5% figure discovered by the Government of the Netherlands was enough to convince them to pass cash acceptance legislation in 2025.
The fact that the Bank of England is not providing such data to the UK Government needs to be addressed immediately.
The headline has, of course, resulted from the response of HM Treasury, made public last Saturday morning, to the Treasury Committees report on the acceptance of cash, which was issued in April 2025.
The HM Treasury response is something of a masterpiece in contriving to ignore the crucial issues that matter to the majority of the British public, in favour of continuing to allow “cashless” to be gradually imposed on the same British public.
You will not of course find “cashless” mentioned anywhere in 13 page response by HM Treasury, although there is one reference to “cash free”.
Another word that cannot be found in the HM Treasury response is WANT, at least in relation to the British publics use of cash.
Instead, HM Treasury focuses solely on those “who don’t have the means or capabilities to access online services”.
Of course, there are millions of people who are in this group identified by HM Treasury - and they deserve massive support - BUT nothing like the 40 MILLION plus UK adults that have made clear, in every survey that has asked them, that they WANT to continue to have the option to use cash.
The only positive aspect of the HM Treasury response, which they state is on behalf of the UK Government, is the following statement near the end.
“The Government keeps relevant international data under review, using it to monitor trends and inform future policy decisions. It will continue to monitor and assess developments in other countries, including levels of cash usage, CASH ACCEPTANCE [our capitals] and relevant policies.”
This is EXCELLENT.
The Payment Choice Alliance has provided the UK Government - including to the Prime Minister directly last week - with clear evidence that every country neighbouring the UK has introduced legislative or constitutional reform to oblige businesses to accept cash.
Yes.
EVERY COUNTRY.
So the UK Government now has all the data it needs to “inform future policy” and can get on with passing cash acceptance legislation immediately.
NOW. IN 2025.
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