I always use contactless but my mum gets frustrated and stressed when she can't use cash

With fewer and fewer companies taking cash these days, some have suggested that cash payments will soon become a thing of the past. The use of cash has slowly been declining over the past few years with the shift in behaviour being driven by the pandemic where more people turned to online shopping and more businesses stopped accepting cash.

As the Bank of England said in its 2022 quarterly bulletin: “Although cash transactions have increased since the start of the pandemic, they remain below their pre-pandemic levels.”

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Moving towards a cashless society has both benefits and drawbacks. While it can make life easier for many, it also raises concerns about data security and the potential for financial exclusion. Additionally, those who are not comfortable or able to use technology may struggle in a cashless environment.

I spoke to the people of Lancashire to find out their thoughts on if the UK was to go cashless.

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Helen Thompson from Freckleton said: “I think there’s a whole load of people, people of my parents' generation where they don’t use cards all the time. My mum particularly likes to use cash and finds it very frustrating and quite stressful when she has to go places that are cashless because she’s not used to it.

“So, I think there’s a whole load of older people who don't necessarily have internet banking or things like that, and I think they should be allowed to do that, and we should support that for them. If the UK did go cashless, it would affect the older generation more than the younger generations.”

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Attaina Chaodhry, a student from Bolton disagreed with Helen, she said: “For me, I never use cash, and my family never uses cash.”

Rumah Begum from Manchester saw both sides, she said: “I think yes for younger generation, but I think for the older generation it would be a bit harder for them because some are not accustomed to using technology, online banking and it’s easier for them to get scammed as well.”

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