Northern Ireland is the UK’s Most Cash-loving Country
Mar 3, 2023
Northern Ireland is the highest cash user in the UK, with citizens withdrawing an average £2,266 ($2,800 or €2,600) in 2022—up from £2,070 in 2021—versus a UK average of £1,564.
The figures, recorded by the LINK ATM network, reinforce an overall trend of Northern Irish consumers using cash more than those in other parts of Britain. Scott Kennerly, a director of the Consumer Council, notes this has been the case for many years, but feels the present economic climate could be driving more people towards cash.
Having the cash in your hand and knowing what you have left to spend can sometimes be a simple way of budgeting, which is increasingly important to people in the current climate.
This is in line with rising demand for cash across the UK, with The Telegraph recently reporting the nation’s cash use has risen for the first time in over a decade, likely driven by a widespread desire to improve control of personal finances.
The Post Office—another British provider of cash services—has also reported a 20 percent increase in personal cash withdrawals from its branches in 2022 versus 2021. Banking Director Martin Kearsley believes this underlines the continued importance of cash within a modern society, offering people greater choice in how they spend.
Our figures clearly show Britain is anything but a cashless society. We’re seeing more and more people increasingly reliant on cash as the tried and tested way to manage finances. Cash access in every community is critical.
Unfortunately, research conducted by LINK found 45 percent of people ‘have recently been somewhere cash payments have been discouraged, or even not accepted’. Although around half of people accepted this, 49 percent reported finding it inconvenient. While efforts to improve access to cash are being undertaken nationwide, more needs to be done to ensure complete freedom of payment choice.
We know some people simply prefer using cash… so being unable to pay in notes and coins is still frustrating for some. If a shop, pub or restaurant no longer accepts cash… we can now see that almost half of people find this problematic.