This consultation closed on 6 September 2019. The FCA became the lead regulator on access to cash in 2023.
Making sure we all have a choice about how we pay for things is important. Cash remains, and will continue to remain, a central one of those choices.
This is our second call for views paper, this time focussing on what consumers’ cash needs are, building on research carried out into cash access, use and acceptance.
Why are we publishing this document?
We commissioned BritainThinks to ask consumers and small business from across the UK questions relating to their cash use and, for small business, acceptance. In this paper, we summarise the answers, and seek to gather input on the implications based on our provision views from this research. This builds on the existing research in this area. Alongside our paper we are also publishing the detail of BritainThinks’ findings.
What will we be looking at?
This paper focuses on users’ cash needs and seeks views on the cash needs and preferences of consumers and businesses in light of our research findings. We also want to learn views on the implications for our work in this area. This is an important part of our work, and we will engage widely with industry and consumer representatives to ensure that all views are heard and considered.
Of particular interest to the PSR is how use of cash may evolve in future, and how best to ensure a network of cash outlets which meets people’s needs. It is also looking to understand what the role is of the alternatives to ATMs for accessing cash (e.g. Post Office, bank branch, cashback) and what the barriers to people using these alternatives to ATMs to access cash might be.
We welcome all views on the issues raised by this research, including possible future options for ensuring access to cash and how businesses can learn more about the costs to them of accepting cash.
Next steps
We have published the findings of our research into consumer and small-business cash use alongside this report.
We are now calling for people to help further answer a number of key questions, as set out in the paper.