The scramble to save cash from going extinct in the UK

How much cash do you have on you right now?

Cash use has been declining in the UK for many years now. For younger people in particular, a trip to the ATM or bank branch is something that only really happens in emergencies. Meanwhile, many businesses are no longer accepting cash at all, which effectively forces us in to paying by contactless card or phone.

Yet the demise of cash has very much been overstated. A range of technical faults and power failures recently have shown us how woefully unprepared we are when things go wrong.

The Treasury Select Committee has expressed concerns about people not being able to pay with cash and have suggested that businesses should be required to accept it. And years on from the Access to Cash report, there is evidence from charities and support services all around the UK that people struggling with the finances are turning to cash as a way to keep on top of their outgoings.

So what are your rights if you want to pay using notes and coins? And what do we do if there are no bank branches any more?

In this article I’ll cover:

Why is access to cash back in the news?

A number of technological meltdowns lately have moved access to cash firmly back on to the agenda.

Banks were recently forced to admit that 1.2 million people were affected by banking outages on what was many people’s pay day: February 28. One bank, according to submissions to the Commons Treasury Committee, revealed that its customers waited for two hours on average to get through to staff on its helpline.

Meanwhile, over in Spain and Portugal, a huge power cut left tourists stranded, shops and restaurants closed and banking systems well and truly shut down.

Then, M&S, the Co-op and other retailers were hit by cyber-attacks that killed off online services, affected supply chains and stopped people from paying for goods by plastic card. Times subscribers can read more about M&S’s cyber attack here.

In each one of these situations, paying by cash was the only way to get around the problem of payments. In other words, these severe incidents remind us why going digital could leave us desperately exposed when technology fails.

How many people still use cash in the UK?

Hip, young urbanites might be shocked to learn the number of people that still rely on and use cash on a daily basis.

According to the latest data from UK Finance, six billion cash payments were made in 2023 (that’s transactions in cash, not £6 billion-worth of payments in cash). That makes cash the second most popular method of payment in the UK – or 12% of all payments. This is a drop, but only a slight one. The figure was 6.4 billion in 2022. Over 22 million people used cash at least once a month.

More importantly, UK Finance noted that in challenging economic times, people struggling on limited budgets turn to cash to keep on top of their budgets.

Research commissioned by Post Office, found that:

• 89% of respondents believe it’s important to maintain access to cash in the UK
• 84% say losing access to cash would be inconvenient
• Over half (53%) use cash at least once a week for everyday transactions
• 15% of respondents note that their cash usage has increased over the last year
• Over a third (34%) of those who have used cash in the past year claim it frustrates them if cash is refused. And nearly a third (30%) say it makes them go as far as not wanting to return to the shop/use the business again and finding an alternative
• Many people rely on cash when shopping with small businesses, with over a third (36%) of respondents who have used cash in the past year stating they have done so most frequently in small local shops or markets

Does a business have to accept cash by law?

One of the most persistent banking urban myths that I hear is that all businesses are legally obliged to accept cash because it’s legal tender.

Cash is indeed legal tender – the term for the officially recognised currency in a particular country. Check out our guide here.

Sadly, the fact that coins and notes are legal tender doesn’t mean a business has be accept them. Even when a business does accept cash payments, it can still object to some forms of them. The Bank of England cites an example where a shopkeeper might turn down a request to buy a pack of chewing gum with a £50 note, for example.

So no, a business does not have to accept cash by law, at the moment…

Read more: Stamps, Scottish notes & more; what actually counts as legal tender in the UK?

What did the Treasury Select Committee propose?

The Treasury Select Committee recently released a report that concluded: “A lack of action from the government to tackle declining cash acceptance could lead to a two-tier society with the most vulnerable bearing the cost.”

The report goes into a great deal of detail about the availability of cash in the UK and the problems that can arise when access is refused, for vulnerable people in particular.

Crucially, the committee concluded that: “There may come a time in the future when it becomes necessary for the Treasury to mandate cash acceptance if those who rely on physical cash are not adequately supported.”

Chair of the Treasury Select Committee, Dame Meg Hillier MP, said: “The government is in the dark on how widely cash is being accepted and that is completely unsustainable. We are at risk of a two-tier society where the most vulnerable bear the brunt and this needs to be a wake-up call. 

“Our committee has sought to give a voice to those groups that are at severe risk of not being heard by government policymakers. A sizeable minority depend on being able to use cash and they must not be forgotten by Whitehall. 

“As a society, we must avoid sleepwalking into a situation where cash is no longer widely accepted. This is the beginning, not the end, of our scrutiny of this issue. The government needs to take this seriously.”

How do I get my hands on cash if my local bank has closed?

According to research by Which? 6,303 bank and building society branches have closed since January 2015 at a rate of 53 a month. Which? found that this meant almost two-thirds (64%) of branches had closed since 2015.

So how on earth do you get help if you need cash to run your business? Or bank it at the end of the day? Or you need help with money matters face-to-face.

As the bank branch network reduced dramatically, banking hubs were introduced to counter a lack of banking services. Banking hubs are shared banking spaces where you can carry out some (but not all) traditional banking counter services. There are also community bankers – bank staff from a rotating series of bank brands – if you need help with something a little more technical.

I am all for banking hubs – the are by far the best available solution to the lack of services on the high street. So congratulations to the hard working team at Cash Access UK for rushing to set up the hubs. There are now more than 150 in the UK.

However, many, many more hubs are needed and, seeing as they are funded by banks as a regulatory requirement, I’d suggest the big brands dip deeper in to their pockets to fund more hubs – and fast. I’d also like to see more powers and services offered in the hubs too.

Banking hubs work in partnership with the Post Office to provide enhanced banking services. But over at the Post Office, their staff are already exceptionally busy offering cash services.

An astounding 6.5 million cash deposits were made at the Post Office in March 2025 alone. It’s clear that both banking hubs and the Post Office will need much more support to continue to provide these vital services in the coming years.

‘There’s no point having cash if you can’t physically spend it’ – expert view on what comes next

Back in 2018, the Access to Cash review was commissioned to address concerns about the reduction in services that accepted cash as a form of payment. I asked Natalie Ceeney CBE, who wrote the report, for her views on cash access, six years on from publication.  

Natalie told me: “There’s little doubt that the world is changing. Services are increasingly going digital whether we like it or not.

“Bank branches are continuing to close, but I’m delighted that banking hubs which serve customers of all of the major banks are up and running in over 150 locations where the need for banking services is strongest. The hubs have proved to be hugely popular in their local communities. We are opening hubs at a rate of two a week, which makes us one of the fastest growing businesses on the UK high street.

“Ultimately though, the most important issue is ensuring people are not left behind as technology marches on. There’s no point having cash if you can’t physically spend it. The debate until now has been about access to cash, but is now rightly shifting to include people’s right to spend cash.

“The question as to whether people should have the right to use cash for essential services is being raised not just in the UK but also in many other nations, including Australia, the US and many parts of Europe. I really welcome the recent Treasury Select Committee report into the issue, which urges the UK government to look at this issue more closely before people are left excluded from the digital economy.“

The Post Office will be bearing the brunt of the nation’s demands for cash in the future, through their own branches and through their staff working in banking hubs.

Ross Borkett, banking director at Post Office, told me: “It’s not just about access to cash, it’s also about ensuring people can use it. Maintaining cash acceptance among shops, services and local businesses is critical.

“If acceptances falls too far and there’s later a need to reverse course, the cost and disruption to communities could be significant. That’s why our announcement last month of Post Office’s new agreement with the banks is so important. It secures access to essential cash services at Post Office branches for at least the next five years, protecting a key part of the UK’s cash infrastructure.”