One of the district’s leading manufacturers is calling for a re-think on plans to abolish cheques in 2018, saying the move would be ‘challenging’ for the business.

Steeton-based Acorn Stairlifts has made its objections known in evidence to MPs on the Treasury Select Committee, which has re-opened an enquiry into plans by the UK Payments Council to withdraw cheques.

Acorn is the world’s largest producer of stairlifts for customers who are mainly 65 or over, which it claims rely most on cheques. The £80 million turnover company, which employs 400 people at its Steeton factory and another 600 in Scotland and overseas, receives a third of its payments by cheque, handling more than 1,000 a month.

It also sends out hundreds of monthly cheques to people who introduce new customers.

In its evidence to MPs, Acorn said: “We strongly recommend that the Treasury Select Committee insists that the UK Payments Council rescinds its announcement that cheques will be phased out by October 2018; develops a suitable and generally acceptable alternative to cheque payments, if indeed this is possible, and sets a new date for the abolition of cheques only if there is a generally acceptable alternative to cheque payments.

“We are not convinced that any alternative will provide the flexibility and ease of use that cheques provide. In any event, the onus should be on the banks to propose suitable alternatives.

“Only if and when these alternatives are seen as generally acceptable should any date for their withdrawal be even considered.”

Acorn Stairlifts has also raised its concerns with the Office of Fair Trading which is reviewing the supply of mobility products.

Company secretary David Belmont said: “With the age profile of our customers, we are concerned by the prospect of the abolition of cheques in the foreseeable future.

“The proportion of cheques we receive was unchanged between March, 2009, and March this year.

“We send out hundreds of cheques a year to existing customers who recommend a friend who buys an Acorn stairlift. I’ve no idea how we would be expected to pay them without cheques.”

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