Payment Choice Alliance

There is a growing recognition that acceptance of cash has become a massive issue in the UK. A trickle of “cashless” businesses started to appear five years ago, following on from the news in 2014 that, under Mayor Boris Johnson, London buses were to go “cashless”. The Pandemic turned the trickle into a wave, with many businesses using the excuse of what proved to be a non-existent health risk to refuse to accept cash. Today, “cashless” is to be found almost everywhere. Pubs; restaurants; coffee shops; leisure centres; football clubs; car parks - a fad that was initially confined mainly to London is now threatening to spread around the whole UK. Mainstream grocery retailing has not fallen into “cashless” trap as yet. However, signs are not promising, with, for example, self-checkouts sometimes not offering cash payment as an option. It is against this backdrop that the Payment Choice Alliance was created in 2014 and relaunched in 2023. The Alliance will prioritise safeguarding Payment Choice for everyone in the UK. The Alliance believes that this will only be achieved when a law is on the statute books establishing the right of everyone in the UK to choose how they pay. To halt and then reverse the trend towards “cashless”, a strong push in the opposite direction is required. That push will come from The Payment Choice Alliance.