The Post Office has revealed it handled a record amount of cash in July, with transactions soaring to £3.77billion over the month.
This marks the first time that cash transactions in the UK surpassed £3.7billion despite the recent push for a more cashless society.
According to the Post Office, July’s record is £200million higher than a previous record high set in May 2024.
In May, the total for cash transactions came to £3.57billion.
Specifically, business cash deposits reached £1.24billion in a single month which is up 10 per cent month-on-month or nine per cent annually.
In comparison, personal cash deposits soared to £1.58billion for the first time, which is up 18 per cent year-on-year.
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Legislation was passed as part of the Financial Services and Markets Act, to protect access to cashGETTYPersonal cash withdrawals for July totalled £917million, representing an eight per cent jump month-on-month and a hike of 12 per cent for the year.
Notably, the Post Office posted an increase in cash withdrawals over the month which coincides with the recent IT outage.
Software firm CrowdStrike’s update last month resulted in global outage, leading to millions of Windows systems crashing.
As a results of this, many Britons were unable to make payments with cash withdrawals being made.
Only July 19, when the outage took place, cash withdrawals were up by 13 per cent at 42.8 million.
The same time in 2023 saw cash withdrawals sitting at £37.9million.
Post Office officials claim cash handling was bolstered thanks to the return of hot summer weather.
The Post Office has an agreement with many banks, enabling customers to do their everyday banking over its counters.
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The Post Office saw a year-on-year surge in cash withdrawals POST OFFICE
Ross Borkett, the banking director at Post Office, said:
He explained: “Our figures indicate that demand for cash is as strong as ever as people rely on cash to budget and businesses rely on it to survive a volatile trading environment.
“Postmasters and their teams play a vital role in supporting small businesses to trade by providing a convenient and secure location to deposit their cash takings with many branches open long hours and some at weekends.
“We are pleased that the Financial Conduct Authority have recently published new access-to-cash regulations to give both consumers and businesses more certainty around the future of cash.”