MSE News: Ignore the disappearing cheque to bag spending rewards

It's likely the payment method will eventually be used as part of postal payments and in transactions between friends and family only.

I personally think that it's likely that the payment method will vanish completely, with your examples above being just an intermediate stage towards that.

Cheques are so sparsely used in shops now anyway that this will cause little difference to most people. However, it is a welcome (to me) move towards plastic cards, and away from cheques.

I'm not convinced that anyone currently paying by cheque should move straight to a cashback credit card.
Whilst there is certainly money to be made in doing this there is a risk of spending money on something that you don't need that you wouldn't have bought if it wasn't for the credit card. Falling for this risk will soon wipe out any cashback profits made.
I'd suggest people currently using cheques should start using debit cards. Then once they are used to paying on card and it working in the same way as they are used to (i.e. you can only use it if the money's there) then switch to a cashback card.