Charities will need to encourage people to use new payment methods as cheques are phased out

17/12/09

Cheques will be phased out in Britain over the next nine years in a move that could have a significant impact on charities.

Many charities rely on cheques from donors as a large source of income, but the Payments Council has announced that the payment method is to be phased out by 2018.

As a result, many charities may have to begin encouraging supporters to use different methods of giving, with online banking and other technology likely to become increasingly important.

Charities may need to establish a greater online presence in order to accommodate the changes and could be inclined to increase their use of technology as a way to get more people to pay them money without using cheques.

However, some charities have warned that older people may struggle with new payment methods as they have tended to rely on cheques rather than transferring to online banking or credit and debit cards.

Older people are traditionally strong supporters of charities and many organisations may need to help this sector of society to get online in order to maintain giving from this age group.

Cheques have been in use for 350 years, but have been overtaken as a popular payment method in recent years by the rise of debit and credit cards, as well as internet banking.

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