Campaign for continued easy access to cash gathers steam

By Éilis Cronin in Industry News 28th September 2021

The cash machine provider Cardtronics has added its voice to the campaign to persuade Chancellor Rishi Sunak to protect public access to cash.

Last Thursday was the deadline for submissions to the government’s Access to Cash consultation.

One of those submissions was a letter asking for various protections to ensure people could still get cash easily.

It was signed by several organisations, including Cardtronics, the Federation of Small Businesses, the National Federation of Sub-Postmasters, the Financial Inclusion Centre, Positive Money, the Association of Convenience Stores and the Petrol Retailers Association.

Marc Terry, international managing director at Cardtronics, said: “Cardtronics is calling on the government to ensure that all retailers accept cash instore, so that the underbanked are not left behind and to safeguard the public’s right to choose how they want to pay.

“The anti-cash lobby has tried hard to use the pandemic to promote other forms of payments and extinguish cash use.

“But in fact, cash remains the preferred payment method for many, and we need government action to protect it before it’s too late.”

The overall number of free-to-use ATMs across the UK has fallen by 23% since 2018, rising to a fall of more than 50% in some areas.

The UK still has 1.3 million unbanked people who rely on cash for their daily lives and the reduction in access to cash is predicted to worsen over the coming months if government inaction continues, says Cardtronics.

Consumers on low incomes and living in rural areas are those who are worst affected, it adds.

The letter asks for the government to:

Act without delay to prevent further deterioration of cash infrastructure, introducing interim measures to protect cash access points at pre-pandemic levels and require the LINK scheme to support ATM deposit taking while longer-term regulation is developed.
Protect ATMs – as the only sustainable national infrastructure that can maintain free access to cash 24/7, re-introducing independent assessment of interchange fees.
Protect key schemes including LINK and the Post Office framework by making bank membership mandatory.