As of the start of 2018, retailers are no longer allowed to charge extra for taking payment by credit or debit card. This also applies to online payment systems such as Paypal, etc.
The immediate effect of this change was that HMRC stopped accepting tax payments on personal credit cards.
Retailers now have to decide whether to stop accepting credit and debit card payments, absorb the extra costs themselves or charge all customers more to recover the card transaction fees.
The new law only applies to consumers and so businesses can still be charged fees, but this should only be the amount it costs to process the transaction.
It is hoped that new technology will provide cheaper alternative methods of direct payment but until that happens anyone taking payment by credit or debit card are advised to factor these costs into their profit margin calculations.