Quarterly figures released from the Payment Council show that Debit cards have overtaken cash as the prime spending vehicle, totalling £272bilion in the 12 months to October, with cash coming in a close second at £269 billion.

However, there were over 104 million fewer cheques written in this period over the previous year, so cash will probably never be King again.

The Council has recommended that cheques be phased out by 2018 and studies on alternative payment methods are very advanced in the US, so we may just get the benefit of their experience, if they beat us to a cash free society.

There is opposition to this idea from many sources, so this will not be a "rubber stamp" affair, with various interest groups in and out of government voicing their interests. Only a matter of time before this takes centre stage in the UK as the implications are considered by the general public.

Louise Richards, Director of Policy and Campaigns at the Institute of Fundraising, comments:'There has been insufficient consultation on this move, which has seemingly been designed entirely as a cost-cutting measure for the banks. We believe there has been scant consideration of the disastrous effect this could have on charitable income.'

Easy to see where the Banks stand on this  but it's the alternatives, not just cards, that need to work for everyone.

Payments made through Smartphones are already changing lives across Africa, will this be the eventual solution here?