Another year, another reduction in the number of cash withdrawals nationwide: despite Link’s strategy wonk insisting cash access remains “popular”.

Cash’s footprint continues to diminish throughout the UK, with new figures from ATM network Link further underlining the urgent need for an alteration to machine technical standards in order to keep pace with consumer trends towards contactless payment. 

The annual publication of numbers from the cash network specialist has shown that in 2024, the average person visited a cash machine just 16 times, a reduction of 6 per cent on 2023. 

In total, £79.5bn of hard cash was withdrawn nationwide, a modest reduction of 1.2 per cent on the prior comparative. 

Regionally, Northern Ireland is by far the most cash-heavy area of the country, with average annual withdrawals in excess of £2,340. Trailing by quite some margin in second place is London, with a median of £1,684 dispensed in hard currency per capita. The South West of England, meanwhile, ranks as the most cashless part of the nation, with £1,064 in notes doled out to residents of the West Country and Cornwall. 

Despite the seemingly inevitable decline of cash in Britain, access to ATMs remains relatively high compared to other countries. Link maintains that over 90 per cent of the population lives within a walkable 1km distance of a free-to-use cash access point.  

The company’s director of strategy Graham Mott said the decline of cash in 2024 had “fallen in line with our own expectations.” 

“However, cash remains popular for many reasons,” he continued. “Our own research shows that millions still rely on it because they’re still not confident, able or can afford to use digital payments.”