Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of cash deposit regulations in the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 on (a) the ability of SMEs to accept cash payments and (b) people who experience difficulty in conducting transactions via means other than cash.

The government recognises that cash continues to be used by millions of people across the UK, including those who may be in vulnerable groups. Furthermore, businesses need access to cash deposit services in order to keep accepting cash and, therefore, support people’s ability to continue to transact using cash.

The government legislated through the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 to establish a new legislative framework to protect access to cash. This establishes the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as the lead regulator for access to cash and provides it with responsibility and powers to seek to ensure reasonable provision of cash withdrawal and deposit facilities.

The government considers that this legislation will support organisations, including local businesses, to continue accepting cash by ensuring that they have reasonable access to cash deposit facilities.

Following the passage of this legislation, the government published a Cash Access Policy Statement, which sets out the government’s policies on access to cash. The FCA is required by law to have regard to these policies when determining its regulatory approach in this area. The FCA will publicly consult on its regulatory approach in due course. The government’s policy statement is available on gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cash-access-policy-statement/cash-access-policy-statement