Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of regulatory protections for victims of fraud, particularly in cases involving (a) card and (b) authorised push payments.

The Government takes the issue of fraud very seriously and is dedicated to protecting the public from this appalling crime. In March 2026 the Government published a new Fraud Strategy, setting out a comprehensive approach to cutting fraud by disrupting criminal infrastructure, safeguarding vulnerable people and improving the system wide response to harm.

To protect consumers, the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) has introduced a mandatory reimbursement regime for Authorised Push Payment (APP) scams taking place over the Faster Payment system. This came into force on 7 October 2024. The PSR has publicly committed to reviewing the impact and effectiveness of its APP reimbursement regime and has commissioned an independent review of its rules. APP scams which take place over the CHAPS payment system are also in scope of reimbursement.

.

Where unauthorised fraud takes place involving a card, consumers are protected by the Payment Services Regulations 2017, which require payment service providers to refund unauthorised transactions unless the firm can show the customer acted fraudulently or with gross negligence.

Commercial card scheme rules allow both debit and credit cardholders to request a refund through their card issuer (e.g., their bank or credit card provider) in certain circumstances as provided for in the scheme rules, which may include, for example, cases of fraud.