A significant number of UK universities are still taking millions of pounds in cash as payment for tuition fees and accommodation, making them vulnerable to criminal gangs and money laundering, according to a study.
A fifth of universities who responded to a freedom of information (FoI) request said they had accepted cash payments, while three institutions each accepted more than £1m in cash in 2019-20 alone.
Researchers received responses from 110 universities of which 22 were continuing to accept cash payments, while a further 17 stopped taking cash during or after 2019-20. Cash payments across the 39 institutions totalled £12m for that year.
It is thought most universities have stopped accepting cash after a Times investigation highlighted the risks of inadvertently facilitating money laundering, but the new research says “a significant number” are still willing to do so.
“What’s even more concerning is that some organisations do not impose any limit on the amount paid in cash,” said the lead author, Prof Nicholas Ryder from Cardiff University’s school of law and politics.
Although universities are not doing anything illegal by accepting cash payments, the research, published in the Criminal Law Review, highlights a “significant gap” in how the UK’s anti-money-laundering regulations are being implemented.
None of the universities are identified in the report. “There is no law against accepting cash payments,” said Ryder. “The purpose of the study was not to name and shame, but to highlight what we felt was an area of risk.”
