Post Offices handled a record £3.45bn in notes and coins in August as cash makes a comeback during the cost-of-living crisis.
Personal cash withdrawals in August totalled £805m during the month, up 0.5% compared to July, while personal cash deposits exceeded £1.4bn for the first time and business cash deposits were up 5.5% on July, reaching nearly £1.2bn.
In September, £3.35 billion in cash deposits and withdrawals was handled at Post Offices. The Post Office said that cash transactions in September had initially been on track to hit even higher levels at its 11,500 branches, but the additional bank holiday for the state funeral of the Queen saw cash transactions down by 94% compared with the equivalent Monday in September 2021.
As the cost of living bites, people are increasingly turning to cash to manage their budget on a week-by-week basis and often day-by-day, the Post Office said. Martin Kearsley, banking director at the Post Office, said: “Millions of people are continuing to come into their local Post Office every week and rely on postmasters and their colleagues as the only ones able to fulfil all the cash needs of their local communities and businesses with many branches open seven days a week.
“The vast majority of Post Offices quite rightly remained closed on the day of Her Majesty the Queen’s state funeral. This did, of course, result in a dip in cash withdrawals and deposits by business customers given many retailers and businesses were also closed. We expect cash transactions to continue to exceed expectations in October and for the rest of the year.”
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