Press release -
Post Offices see record cash withdrawal figures in December
- Post Offices saw a record £930 million in personal cash withdrawals over the counter in December.
- Post Offices saw all time record for personal cash withdrawals on a single day - Friday 22 December - with £62.4 million taken out over the counter
- Figure beats previous record from Christmas 2022 by over £10 million when £51.5 million was withdrawn over the counter (Friday 23 December 2022).
- In total, £3.38 billion in cash was deposited and withdrawn over the counter at Post Offices in December
New figures today reveal Post Offices had their busiest month on record for personal cash withdrawals over the counter in December.
Personal cash withdrawals across Post Office’s 11,500 branches totalled £930 million in December. That was up 6% month-on-month (£878 million, November 2023) and up 4.3% year-on-year (£891 million, December 2022).
Personal cash deposits totalled £1.33 billion in December, up almost 2% month-on-month (£1.30 billion, November 2023) and up almost 4% year-on-year (£1.28 billion, December 2022).
Business cash deposits totalled £1.09 billion in December, broadly flat compared with November and December last year.
In total, £3.38 billion in cash was deposited and withdrawn over the counter at Post Offices in December. This was up on November when £3.31 billion was deposited and withdrawn over the counter.
Post Office has partnerships with over 30 banks, building societies and credit unions meaning that 99% of UK bank customers can access their accounts at their Post Office branch.
Ross Borkett, Post Office Banking Director, said:
“Our cash tracker and other research all points to people having relied on cash in order to manage their budgets in the run-up to Christmas. Postmasters played a vital role in making sure anyone who needed cash could access it by keeping their branches open long hours, providing a convenient and secure location to withdraw cash to the penny where required.”
Post Office Cash tracker data – December 2023
Cash deposits value (business & personal) | MOM% | YOY% | Cash withdrawals value (business & personal) | MOM% | YOY% | Total cash deposits & withdrawal value for December 2023 | |
UK[1] | £2.42bn | +0.7% | +1.8% | £963m | +5.7% | +4.4% | £3.38bn |
England | £1.99bn | +0.1% | +2.0% | £748.3m | +4.9% | +4.8% | £2.74bn |
Scotland | £167.0m | +2.5% | +0.3% | £69.3m | +9.4% | +2.2% | £236.2m |
Wales | £127.4m | +3.9% | +4.1% | £76.7m | +8.0% | +4.3% | £204.2m |
Northern Ireland | £131.1m | +4.6% | -1.1% | £68.5m | +8.8% | +2.9% | £199.6m |
Business cash deposits
Personal cash deposits
Personal cash withdrawals
Banking Hubs
As at 11th December, 32 hubs have been opened in partnership between Cash Access UK and the Post Office. Over 101 Banking Hubs have now been announced by LINK with further openings planned for the new year.
For further data and analysis, visit https://corporate.postoffice.co.uk/cashtracker
[1] Figures for cash deposits value and cash withdrawals value by country have been rounded to the nearest million. This is why value figures per country will not add up exactly to the total for the UK.
Categories
About the Post Office
- With over 11,500 branches, Post Office has the biggest retail network in the UK, with more branches than all the banks and building societies combined.
- Post Office is helping anyone who wants cash to get it whichever way is most convenient. Partnership with over 30 banks, building societies and credit unions means that 99% of UK bank customers can access their accounts at their Post Office.
- Cash withdrawals, deposits and balance enquiries can be made securely and conveniently over the counter at any Post Office; and the biggest investment by any organisation or company in the last decade is being made to safeguard 1,400 free-to-use ATMs across the UK.
- Post Office is simplifying its proposition for Postmasters with a focus on its cash and banking; mails and parcels; foreign exchange; and; bill payments services.
- Research has found that visits to the Post Office help drive another 400 million visitors to other shops, restaurants and local businesses equating to an estimated £1.1 billion in additional revenue for High Street businesses.
- 99.7% of the population live within three miles of a Post Office; and 4,000 branches are open seven days a week.
