The councils refusing to take cash or cheques

COUNCILS across Britain are refusing to accept cash or cheques for taxes and fines, it has emerged.

Rules forcing residents – including the elderly – to pay by electronic means have been quietly introduced by councils including Manchester and Newcastle, with more planning to make the switch in the coming months.

Local authorities blamed ‘huge’ funding cuts, saying they could no longer afford the cost of running a cashier’s office or the bank charges for processing payments such as council tax.

But charities accused them of ignoring the preferences of older people and ‘ airbrushing them out’. George McNamara, at Independent Age, said: ‘Savings should not come at the cost of older people.

‘ Payment options need to include cash and cheques because going “digital by default” risks excluding many ... and makes it impossible for them to pay for essential bills such as council tax or rent.’

Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said: ‘There are millions of older people who are not online or confident with mobile banking and it’s no good the financial services industry and our public services effectively airbrushing them out.’

Other councils which no longer accept cash include Kirklees in West Yorkshire, Swale in Kent, Blackburn with Darwen in Lancashire, and the in London boroughs of Newham and Croydon.

Councillor Hilary Bastone, at South Hams District Council, Devon, which ditched cash in April, said: ‘We made the decision to go cashless because each year we were spending a hefty £35,000 from processing cash and cheque payments.

‘As a rural council facing huge cuts in our funding and working hard to make sure that essential frontline services are not cut, we decided to follow down the path of the many private sector utility companies, who have been cashless for a long time.’

THERE’S little doubt we’re heading for a future in which all payments will be made electronically. But in a country where 4.5million adults have never used the internet – more than half of them over 75 – we’re not there yet.

Until that time, councils have no excuse for refusing to accept cheques or cash to pay for services, rent, taxes or fines.

This not only causes inconvenience to those who avoid online banking because they’re unfamiliar with the technology or fear cyber fraud. It’s offensive to people simply wanting to settle their bills.

Instead of insulting the law-abiding, shouldn’t town halls be chasing up those who fail to pay what they owe?