With more and more big businesses refusing to take cheques will it be long before they become obsolete?

Many supermarkets and chain stores are adopting a "no-cheque" policy. However, for smaller businesses cheques are still popular as a method of payment.

According to a survey by Which? most people still find cheques useful, with 57% of those surveyed saying they had used a cheque in the last month.

Admittedly, the use of cheques has been declining as more people use chip-and-pin credit or debit cards. However, cheques are still very popular for sending money through the post and for paying for children's activities.

An FSB spokesman said: "A large proportion of our members and small businesses in general still deal in cheques. They shouldn't be penalised for that and should be able to carry on."

Despite schemes by some business to end the use of cheques in their stores, Jemma Smith, spokeswoman for the Association for Payment Clearing Services (Apacs) stated: "we do not see the cheque being phased out completely for a long time yet because there is no suitable alternative to it in some cases."

So it seems that cheques are around to stay - for now at least.