Cash and Card Payments: Reduction in Availability

Baroness Kramer Excerpts

Tuesday 20th October 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Pitt-Watson (Lab)]

There is no current plan for legislation, but this is being monitored. The British Retail Consortium believes that all its members are accepting cash, and I think 99% of corner shops are accepting cash. The Bank of England did a survey where 40% of people accepted that, where they had not been able to use cash, they had found somewhere else where they could get the service they wanted. This remains under review, rather than there being any plan at this stage, but the issue raised is an important one.

[Baroness Kramer (LD)]

My Lords, this is getting more complicated. In a year or so, payments, including some salaries, will start being paid in stablecoin. What happens if you do not have an electronic wallet? Even if you have a smartphone, how can you use it to access cash from an ATM? Who is going to pay for interoperability, and will it fall on the consumer or the banks but not on the companies that will make increased profits out of stablecoin?

[Lord Pitt-Watson (Lab)]

On people getting hold of cash, there are initiatives taking place. On future payment systems, the National Payments Vision is trying to put together what an entire system using different payments methodologies would look like. Some of this is work in progress, around where we are and where we are going.