BUSINESSES selling in-person goods and services could be required to accept cash from January 2028 if States Members back a newly-lodged proposition.
Deputy Montfort Tadier, who chairs the Economic and International Affairs Scrutiny Panel, said the change would help make Jersey “a cash-inclusive island”.
The panel last year published the findings of its review exploring the acceptance of cash payments in Jersey, which garnered 136 written submissions from individuals, businesses and organisations – as well as 2,696 responses to an anonymous five-minute survey.
Of the respondents, 92% of businesses stated that they accepted both cash and digital payments, while 6% revealed that they only accepted digital payments.
The majority (71%) indicated that they mostly received digital payments (via cards, transfers or smartphones) and 20% indicated that cash payments represented under 10% of their transactions.
One of the panel’s recommendations was that Economic Development Minister Kirsten Morel should issue interim guidance to businesses “that they should accept a cash payment where it is the customer’s only way of paying”.
At the time, the minister said that this was “not considered necessary” and argued that “policy remains that businesses should be free to choose their preferred payment methods”.
But Deputy Tadier has now lodged a proposition that, if approved, would ask the Council of Ministers “to take the necessary steps to ensure that from January 2028, businesses selling in-person goods and services must accept cash, unless they are exempt according to a list of reasonable exemptions to be developed by the council in consultation with stakeholders”.
It would also ask the government to bring forward a policy paper on “the long-term plans for access to cash and cash usage in the Island”, including examination of the fees banks charge for depositing or withdrawing cash, to be presented to the States Assembly by March 2027.
“I would like to encourage everyone to see the positives of this proposition,” Deputy Tadier stated in his accompanying report. “By making Jersey a cash-inclusive island, we are sending out a strong message that we are different to the rest of the UK; tourists are one group who still like to use cash.
“In Jersey, we have our own cash – it is both a novelty and a selling point.
“On top of that, we should see cash inclusion not as an imposition on retailers, most of
whom already willingly accept cash, but as a removal of red-tape for the consumer.”
The proposition is set to be debated at the States sitting starting 10 March.
