"Banking body reports increase to 1.5m in 2023 – the highest since before Covid – despite move to cashless society
There has been an unexpected jump in the number of people who mainly use notes and coins for their daily spending, despite the UK moving closer to becoming a cashless society, a report has found.
The volume of contactless and mobile payments increased last year, while the number of cash payments resumed a downward trajectory after enjoying a brief comeback in 2022, the banking body UK Finance noted in its annual report on the UK payments market.
However, there was a 66% increase in the number of people who prefer to use cash for their everyday spending.
The estimated number of “mainly use cash” people has fallen every year for several years and stood at 900,000 in 2022, but it leapt to 1.5 million last year – the highest figure since before the coronavirus pandemic.
UK Finance said the increase may reflect those people who have gone back to using cash to help manage their finances during the cost of living crisis.
Last year there was a rise in interest in a budgeting trend called “cash stuffing” – or the cash envelope system – made popular on social media. This involves dividing cash into envelopes labelled into different categories such as groceries, bills, a rainy day and Christmas shopping. The idea is that it helps cash-strapped households keep track of their spending and saving."
The total number of payments made in the UK increased by five per cent to 48.1 billion
Almost four out of ten (38 per cent) of all payments made in the UK during 2023 were contactless
One third of UK adults were using mobile contactless payments at least once a month
The number of cash payments fell to six billion, with cash representing 12 per cent of all payments made in the UK
Faster Payments overtook Direct Debit to become the third most used payment type in the UK in 2023
In 2023 the total number of payments made in the UK was 48.1 billion, up from 45.7 billion in 2022.
Consumers made 85 per cent of the total number of payments (41.0 billion payments) with businesses (commercial firms, government, and not-for-profit organisations) making the other 15 per cent (7.1 billion payments). "