Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the consultation, Cash and digital payments in the new economy, published in December 2017, whether his Department has made an assessment of the effect of the increase in cashless and electronic payments on homeless people.

The Government recognises that people are increasingly moving away from cash and that the growth in the use of digital payments has been rapid. However, the Government also recognises that widespread free access to cash remains extremely important to the day-to-day lives of many people, especially the more vulnerable members of society and the elderly. Government has been engaging and will continue to engage with the regulators and industry, including LINK, to ensure that it is maintained.

The Government established the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) in 2015 with a statutory objective to ensure that the UK’s payment systems work in the interests of their users. As part of this, the PSR is monitoring developments within ATM provision.

The PSR have also set out three requirements of LINK: that LINK must maintain the current geographical spread of ATMs; that any changes made to interchange fees must be incremental to allow LINK to monitor the impact and take action if the impact is not as expected; and for a greater focus on LINK’s financial inclusion programme, to continue to fill gaps in the network.

Indeed, to ensure the provision of ATMs in rural, isolated or vulnerable areas, LINK announced it will enhance its financial inclusion plan to include in the programme all ATMs that are a kilometre or further from the next other free-to-use ATM.

While the Government has not made a formal assessment of the issue in question, the Government is open to hearing views, as evidenced by its recently closed call for evidence on cash and digital payments in the new economy. This sought information on how the shift from cash to digital payments impacts on different sectors, different regions and different demographics. The Government will formally respond to the call for evidence in due course.