Shropshire Council has informed residents that it will only take digital payments for services from April of next year.
It said plans the switch to being cashless by April 203, when it will no longer take payments in cash.
The move is aimed at providing efficiency benefits to the council and comes in response to changes in public behaviour.
Its cabinet member for finance and corporate resources, Cllr Gwilym Butler, 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.
“It brings benefits of savings in both staff time and the costs of processing payments, allows customer 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.”
Need for third parties
The council acknowledged that some customers will need or want to make payments using cash or cheque and said they will still be able to do so via third party payment systems such as those from the Post Office or PayPoint.
According to a report on the Shropshire Star website, charity Age UK has expressed concerns over the move, saying it will create significant problems for old people lacking the means to make payments digitally.
Its information and advice manager for the area, Robert Smith, was quoted as saying: “We have raised our concerns about the local authority’s move to become more digitally focused, and the negative impact this will have on a large number of older people in our county who don’t have the means to access these services.”
