The Treasury Select Committee has scolded the Payments Council for attempting to abolish cheques, and told it to ensure that banks do not attempt to abandon them by stealth.

In a report on the future of cheques, the Committee argues that banks should be required to write to their customers stating that cheques will continue to be in use for “the foreseeable future”, and that banks should have to give the Payments Council advanced sight of any material that they send to customers on the issue.

Furthermore, in order to ensure that consumer voices are represented on the Council, the Committee calls for the composition of the board to be changed in order to “significantly strengthen the voice of consumers”.

The first step would be to ensure that decisions could be vetoed by the Council’s independent board members if just two of them wish to do so, rather than all four, as is required at present.

It also calls on the Treasury to bring the Payments Council formally within the system of financial regulation, as well as asking the Council to examine the reintroduction of the cheque guarantee card.

"Need to remain vigilant"

Speaking about the issue, the Committee chair Andrew Tyrie said: “Cheques have been saved, for the moment, but we need to remain vigilant. The incentives for the industry to get rid of cheques have not gone away.”

He added: “The decision of the Payments Council in December 2009 to set a target date of 2018 for the abolition of cheques was taken without an assessment of the costs and benefits and without providing any indication of what alternatives to cheques would be put in place.

“Banks have also given many customers the impression that the abolition of cheques was a foregone conclusion. This type of behaviour is unacceptable and cannot be allowed to continue.”

Help the Hospices and the CFDG both issued statements welcoming the report’s recommendations.