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Payments Council assures sector that cheques will not go before 2018
By Kaye Wiggins, Third Sector Online, 5 February 2010
Council tells umbrella groups it will hold workshops for charities concerned by the phase-out
Banks will not phase out cheques before 2018, the Payments Council has assured sector umbrella groups.
The organisation's chief executive, Paul Smee, held separate meetings with representatives from the Charity Finance Directors' Group and the Institute of Fundraising last week about its plan to phase out the use of cheques on October 31, 2018.
The IoF had expressed concerns that cheques might be phased out before that date.
Smee told both groups that he would arrange workshops with charities later this year at which they could raise their concerns. The council has pledged to hold a review in 2016 before a final decision is taken.
Louise Richards, director of policy and campaigns at the institute, said she had given the Payments Council a "robust idea" of the sector's concerns. She said she would arrange a meeting with charities and umbrella groups to discuss what they wanted from an alternative to cheques.
Angela Haynes, policy manager at the CFDG, said the organisation had agreed to help the Payments Council to identify alternatives. "We will make every effort to ensure charities' needs are protected," she said.
A Payments Council spokeswoman said the decline in cheques would have happened regardless of its 2018 target for phasing them out. "We want to make sure the alternatives meet the needs of charities," she said.
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Catherine Clark, 8 February 2010, 14:04
It's funny how political parties want charities to do more of the government's work but continue to put obstacles in our way. Cheques are a wonderful method of transferring funds, and until there is a UNIVERSAL alternative, they must remain in use. Good luck, Mr Smee!
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Peter Blow, 10 February 2010, 11:10
What the Payment Council is doing is incorrect and against the OFT principles.
Any bank can stop the issue of cheques today, but they will not because they will lose customers to other banks.
Banks are not allowed by law to work in concert to remove cheques from the payments arena this was made clear to them by the OFT
The Payments Council should have the same discussion with the OFT as it is having behind close doors with other bodies \(e.g Charity Finance Directors)
Did they also tell you that this will impact on not only cheques but Postal Orders which are also received by many charities?
The Clearings that Mr Smee talks about is in fact a "loading bay" where cheques are exchanged between banks, Milton Keynes, Glasgow and Belfast
We as a public body should voice our concerns via the OFT if a bank thinks we do not want cheques let them make the commercial decision independently, which bank will lose the most customers?
Malaysia has just automated the cheque clearing and it's completed in a day – when will Mr Smee wake up to the reality it does not stop on a day – this is a deliberate action to allow the banks to reduce volumes by scaremongering their customers. This is not how a Payments Council should act.....
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