There is a move by the banks to get rid of cheques in a few years time.  They say it is expensive for them to process cheques.  Maybe they should look at reducing their bonuses first before  reducing their services to the public.

Not accepting cheques would be a big blow to pensioners and those that are housebound.  The Liberal Democrats have mounted a campaign to stop the phasing out of cheques.

Three Lib Dem MPs – Co-chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Committee on Business, Innovations and Skills, Lorely Burt, together with her parliamentary colleagues MP for Cheadle, Mark Hunter and MP for Bradford East, David Ward has been leading a campaign to prevent the phasing out of cheques.

Commenting on the delivery of a ‘save the cheque’ petition to No 10 in March, Lorely Burt said:

“Last year alone there were over one billion cheque transactions which shows just how widely used this form of payment still is. For tradesmen and small business, cheques are an essential method of payment as other methods can be expensive to administer.

“For many older or vulnerable people, particularly pensioners or those who are housebound, cheques are a necessary alternative to keeping wads of cash under their pillow and leaving themselves at a greater risk of theft and burglary.

“Our petition has received support from thousands of people from all across the country, of different ages and walks of life. Today we’re calling on the Government to acknowledge that banks have a social responsibility to serve and protect their customers, and that retaining cheques would mean little or nothing to banks but a great deal to millions of their customers who still rely on them.”

Many national organisations have joined the Lib Dem campaign including Age UK, Which?, RNIB, and The Federation of Small Businesses. All have grave concerns that the banks’ decision will hurt the most vulnerable, charities and many small businesses who rely on cheques.

My fellow Liberal Democrat councillors will be bringing this issue to the Council to get cross party support for the campaign. 

You can join the campaign to save our cheque by signing the on line petition at: http://ourcampaign.org.uk/saveourcheque