Shropshire Council reveals plan to 'go cashless' by April
Shropshire Council has revealed its plans to go cashless next year.
The council says its intention is to make the switch by April 1, 2023, when it will no longer accept payments for services in cash.
It says customers who want to pay bills using money or cheques will have to do so via third party payment systems such as their Post Office or PayPoint.
Gwilym Butler, Shropshire Council’s cabinet member for finance and corporate resources, said: “Post-pandemic business evidence is that fewer and fewer people are using cash and cheques to make their day-to-day purchases and complete larger transactions.
“The increased use of banking apps and smart technology by consumers means that most people routinely carry less than £5 in real cash, so we are looking at ways we can adapt and support the switch to the digital economy.”
The move is part of the strategy to become a 'digital council' and it is claimed the switch will have the benefit of increased efficiencies across the council, and the services being able to adapt more quickly to meet customer demands.
Councillor Butler added: "It brings the benefits of savings in both staff time and the costs of processing payments, allows customers to access their accounts without having to attend our offices, and we can gather data to help plan and improve our services at times of peak demand.
“We recognise that some customers may still need to, or want to make, their payments using cash or cheque, and wherever practical we will find secure ways for them to do so.”
A statement said council services are working on identifying what is needed to do to ensure customers can move to cashless transactions as easily as possible from next April.
