Dartford MP, Dr Howard Stoate, has signed a parliamentary motion condemning moves by the Payments Council and high street banks to abolish the cheque as a method of payment.

Although the use of cheques by bank customers has declined in recent years with more people using debit cards and direct debits to make routine payments, over four million cheques are still being signed every day.

Dr Stoate is concerned that any move to abolish the cheque payment system altogether within the next few years would seriously inconvenience many bank customers - particularly the elderly - who prefer to pay by cheques or find it difficult to use alternatives.

The Payments Council, the organisation which sets strategy for UK payments on behalf of the UK’s high street banks, is in the process of drawing up a ‘National Payments Plan’ for the next ten years. The Council plans to set out a “roadmap for the managed decline of cheques, including an agreed end date for cheque clearing” after “extensive research” commissioned by the Council “confirmed that all major stakeholder groups now see cheques as being in a state of permanent decline.”

Dr Stoate said; “There’s no doubt that cheques are becoming less and less popular as a payment method. Millions of ordinary bank customers and businesses find it much easier to use electronic methods of payment and have virtually stopped using cheques altogether.”

“There are still many bank customers however who rely heavily on cheques and don’t want to switch to other payment methods. We have to ensure that their interests are protected. Older people in particular, and people who are housebound, are heavy users of cheques and would find it hard to use alternatives.

“I’m quite sure that the banks would prefer to see the back of cheques, given the extra costs involved in processing them, but that’s no reason to phase them out altogether. The banks need to be reminded that they exist to serve customers not the other way around.”

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