P-06-1335 Welsh Government should take steps to ensure vulnerable adults without bank cards can pay with cash  - Correspondence from the Petitioners, 10 February 2025

Our Response:-

Mencap Cymru would like to thank the Senedd’s Petitions Committee for its continued support for the issue which we raised in our petition:- P-06-1335 Welsh Government should take steps to ensure vulnerable adults without bank cards can pay with cash

We would also like to thank the Chair of the Committee for writing to the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Trefnydd and Chief Whip, Jane Hutt MS, and the Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales, Ken Skates MS regarding the issue of cashless payments.

Response to letter from Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Trefnydd and Chief Whip to Chair

We were pleased to meet with the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Trefnydd and Chief Whip, Jane Hutt MS on the 27th November to discuss the issue of publicly funded venues further alongside Dot Gallagher, Chair of Mencap Môn, and her two sons who have a learning disability. We are grateful for the Cabinet Secretary’s offer to meet with us again. During the meeting, we were pleased to hear that the Cabinet Secretary recognised this issue as one which requires a cross-Government approach. We are still hearing stories of venues in the Higher Education sector and the Culture and Arts Sector who are refusing to accept cash payment, which excludes people with a learning disability who might not have access to digital forms of payment. As we have said throughout this process, access to venues for people who do not have digital forms of payment can be as great as a barrier as physical access for those with physical impairments; the social model of disability must be the basis of provision of such services by venues who are in receipt of public funds.

We are grateful to the Cabinet Secretary for updating the relevant Cabinet Secretaries following the meeting. We would, however, appreciate a written response from each Cabinet Secretary as a result of this. Although recognition of the scale of this issue is welcomed, people with a learning disability who have experienced this issue and those who have supported the petition should have the opportunity to hear from the relevant Cabinet Secretaries about their commitment to this issue.

Response to letter from Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales to Chair

We are grateful to the Cabinet Secretary for his response, which addresses our concerns. There remains a concern that people with a learning disability may get fined for boarding a train without a valid ticket, but we are pleased that he has made it very clear that this will not happen.

We will share this update with members of the Wales Learning Disability Consortium so that they can inform their membership. We will also share with the Cross Party Group on Learning Disability at the next meeting.

Whilst we believe that the response was positive, we are still concerned that there will be no clear commitment to ensuring that future onboard catering contracts will require successful bids to accept cash. We noted in the Cabinet Secretary’s response to a reference that catering staff will use their discretion to serve complimentary refreshments as required; we would like more clarification

about this offer as many people are still reporting of long train journeys without the ability to purchase food and drink.

Additional Comments

We were pleased to see how reference was made to this work at the Treasury Select Committee as part of their inquiry into the acceptance of cash. This shows how the voices of the most excluded within our society can influence public policy. We are grateful to the Petitions Committee for their continued support, understanding, and for leading the way on this issue.