Many businesses have used the pandemic to limit the ability of customers to pay in cash. At the same time, free ATM access has been reduced, with The Herald estimating that 10500 such ATMs have disappeared across the UK in the past two years. Cash payments are vital for multiple reasons and for many population segments: for the vulnerable who need others to buy them essentials, for children's pocket money, for anyone who needs a backup for when the bank/card provider/card machine is acting up. In a world with increasing privacy invasions, cash provides an anonymous way of spending that cannot be easily tracked to build customer profiles, as well as allowing those in abusive relationships to hide away resources to escape and to not have their spending directly visible to abusers. ScotGov should legislate to expand and guarantee access to cash and the ability to spend it, by forcing the installation of free ATMs and ensuring that cash remains a payment option for all transactions.
This content is created by the open source Your Priorities citizen engagement platform designed by the non profit Citizens Foundation