HM Treasury is leading an active Financial Inclusion Policy through a dedicated committee established in late 2024 to address access to financial services and banking for underserved populations. The committee meets regularly to develop and coordinate government action on financial exclusion, unbanked and underbanked communities, and barriers to financial participation. Current status involves ongoing committee meetings and policy development.
In response to: Financial Inclusion Committee
In response to: Financial Inclusion Committee
In response to: Financial Inclusion Committee
In response to: Financial Inclusion Committee
HM Treasury, the Financial Conduct Authority and the Bank of England must provide an interim assessment of the effectiveness of the access to cash regime as soon as is practical. This must include an assessment of whether the regime has …
Cash is an enduring payment method that many people prefer to use and on which people who do not have equal access to non-cash payment methods rely. Although technology may progress further and reduce the number of people who rely …
There may come a time in the future where it becomes necessary for HM Treasury to mandate cash acceptance if appropriate safeguards have not been implemented for those who need physical cash, and the level of cash acceptance begins to …
We note that this debate is being conducted in other countries, and more interventionist approaches are being considered than is currently acceptable to the UK’s Government. We note with interest the range of approaches to cash in these similar countries, …
It would be important to support financial inclusion to the greatest possible extent through a digital pound were it to be launched, including by exploring the option of offline payments to ensure accessibility by users with limited or unreliable internet …
The Government and Bank of England must resist the temptation to believe that a digital pound can fix problems it can’t, however, and a digital pound must not make financial exclusion worse. There is a risk that the introduction of …
To help ensure a rigorous and balanced approach is taken towards assessing the case for launching a digital pound in future, we recommend that the Government and Bank of England set out in more detail, as soon as possible, the …
We recognise that the Government does not want to intervene in the detail of commercial decisions. However, we are concerned that a lack of data on cash usage in Scotland means Ministers have not had a clear picture of the …
We welcome recent initiatives announced by the Cash Action Group to ensure free access to cash in the absence of legislation. However, considering the scale of the population which remains reliant on cash, and likely will do so for the …
The reported increase in the number of retailers refusing to accept cash could significantly inhibit the ability of people who either rely on cash, or choose to use it as their preferred payment method, to participate in the economy and …
There seems to be limited general data in relation to businesses accepting cash as a means of payment. It would be helpful for us to know how much data the UK Government holds on this, particularly in the context of …
We believe the issue of cash acceptance in a retail setting requires further investigation. We recommend that the UK Government should consider asking the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to investigate and monitor cash acceptance levels across the UK. If the …
We recommend that the UK Government should clarify their position on how the Financial Services and Markets Bill will interact with pre-existing industry-led solutions such as LINK’s Financial Inclusion Programme. Currently, LINK’s Financial Inclusion Programme is reliant on the voluntary …
Attempts to introduce deposit-taking ATMs for both consumers and SMEs have been constrained by a considerable lack of progress from both the banking industry and the UK Government. Considering the strength of the evidence to support their introduction, we repeat …
Building on the structure and objectives of the Banking Framework Agreement, we recommend that the UK Government seek a long-term commitment from banks to maintain appropriate banking services for their customers using the Post Office network, to guarantee access to …
The regulations made by the FCA, and the manner in which it supervises and enforces those regulations, could have a significant impact on financial inclusion. However a primary role of the FCA should not be to carry out social policy, …
The FCA should make every effort to ensure that it is not designing or implementing regulation in a way which could unreasonably limit the provision of financial services to consumers who might benefit from them. When placing new requirements on …
The FCA should consider how to improve its engagement with the poorest consumers, including seeking opportunities to improve the availability of data about people who are on the lowest incomes. The FCA must seek data on the issues vulnerable consumers …
In response to: Summary of Financial Inclusion Policy Forum meeting November 2020
We are not convinced that the public bodies understand how declining access and acceptance of cash can adversely affect many people’s lives. Some consumers prefer to use or rely on cash—particularly the elderly and lower income groups; those in rural …
The Bank of England seems to lack curiosity about the huge volume of notes not used or held for day-to-day transactions. The Bank estimates that 20%-24% of issued notes are used or held for cash transactions. This leaves about £50 …
When asked who would pay for the increasing cost of maintaining the cash system the FCA acknowledged that the economics of the cash system is changing. It suggested that further thought will need to be given to how to support …
The Treasury informed us that a lot of work had been commissioned, from both government and outside government, to understand how rapid changes in the cash system were impacting on those still reliant on cash. This work indicated that 2 …
In response to: Summary of Financial Inclusion Policy Forum meeting October 2019
In response to: Summary of Financial Inclusion Policy Forum meeting March 2019
In response to: Summary of Financial Inclusion Policy Forum meeting March 2018