Shropshire Council preparing to go cashless

Shropshire Council is preparing to become a cashless council and help customers manage their payments digitally.

From council tax payments to parking, theatre tickets to licence fees, people will be able to make payments without cash or cheques. The move is part of the strategy to become a digital council, and supports one of the goals of the Shropshire Plan.

The intention is to make the switch to being ‘cashless’ on 1 April 2023, when the council will no longer accept payments for services in cash.

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Customers who want to pay bills using cash will still be able 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.”

It is expected the switch will have the added benefit of increased efficiencies across the council’s service areas, and the services being able to adapt more quickly to meet customer demands.

Gwilym 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.”

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.