CASH MAKING COMEBACK AS FAMILIES TAKE DESPERATE STEPS AFTER RACHEL REEVES BUDGET DISASTER

Cash is making a comeback as millions of Britons turn to notes and coins to help them budget through the cost of living crisis. Neil Martin, UK managing director of the UK's biggest ATM network, NCR Atleos, told the Express that cash remains "a really important part of the fabric of the UK" with up to 1.5 million people relying on it as their primary way to pay for goods.

His company operates 16,000 cash machines across the country, dispensing around £29billion of the £76.7billion withdrawn last year. Mr Martin revealed a startling shift in attitudes followed Rachel Reeves's autumn budget.

He said: "We asked a question after the budget, do our customers think they'll use more cash as a result of the budget. 520,000 people responded to on-screen questions, and 41% of them expected to use more cash in 2026." The startling figures paint a picture of a nation increasingly squeezed by rising costs, with cash emerging as a vital budgeting tool for families struggling to make ends meet.

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Mr Martin said: "There's about 1.5 million people that rely on cash as their primary mechanism for paying for goods." The scale of cash usage remains high, with around five to six million adults using cash every single day, while nearly 33 million people say they use it weekly.

Mr Martin added: "So what we're seeing is that cash is still a really important part of the fabric of the UK, and how people transact." But the surge in demand is being driven by tightening purse strings, not nostalgia.

He said: "I think a lot of it comes down to probably affordability and cash as a budgeting tool. Increasingly people are feeling that squeeze." Younger generations are also returning to cash - defying predictions that digital payments would dominate.

Mr Martin said: "There's been some interesting dynamics around cash usage in younger generations as well. There's been research recently around this as well as we are actually seeing cash usage in that younger generation [go up] as well. I think that's back to cash as a budgeting tool." The growing reliance on cash comes as bank branches continue to close and ATMs disappear from high streets.

Mr Martin warned: "Increasingly the banks are looking at how they continue to serve, particularly because cash access has predominantly been focused on the rural community. How do we ensure there's not the kind of cash deserts, how do we serve those rural populations?" He stressed the importance of maintaining access: "How do we as a market, as a society, provide for those that still rely on cash, still use cash."

Cash also remains crucial for resilience when digital systems fail - a point driven home by recent power outages across Europe and banking system failures. Mr Martin said: "I mentioned cash resilience, and I think that's really important and we see that because we all have examples in our own life of where we've turned up to somewhere, and, you know, the point of sale terminal might be down and it's a cash only type of requirement."

He added: "The need for cash access, and the protection of cash is super important."

2026-01-19T12:18:51Z