Announce legislation to protect free access to cash, Post Office urges

Post Office has urged the government to announce in today’s Queen’ Speech that legislation to protect free access to cash will be introduced.

The call comes as the figures today revealed that post offices handled over £3 billion in cash in April for the second consecutive month.

Today’s Queen’s Speech comes almost a year since the Post Office launched its ‘Save Our Cash’ campaign demonstrating how vital cash is for millions of people every day.

In April, £3.14 billion was handled by Post Offices, just slightly below the £3.2 billion handled in March due to the Easter Bank Holidays last month.

Personal cash withdrawals totalled £750 million in April, up 27 per cent year-on-year (£590 million, April 2021), but slightly less than March, down 3.7 per cent (£779 million, March 2022).

Personal cash deposits totalled £1.26 billion in April, up 17 per cent year-on-year (£1.07 billion, April 2021), but slightly less than March, down 4.2 per cent (£1.31 billion, March 2022).

Business cash deposits were up 1.7 per cent month-on-month totalling £1.10 billion in April compared with £1.09 billion in March. Business cash deposits were up over 43 per cent year-on-year (£769 million, April 2021).

In the first four months of 2022, £12 billion has been deposited and withdrawn at post offices with millions of people relying on cash every single day in order to budget.

“The ability to use cash to budget daily, weekly, monthly is a fundamental way of life for millions of people across the country. The government must, and we would welcome, an announcement in the Queen’s Speech to protect the use and acceptance of cash, providing reassurance for people and businesses across the country who rely on cash to survive,” Martin Kearsley, Banking Director at Post Office, said.

“Postmasters handling over £3 billion in cash for the second consecutive month demonstrates just how vital being able to deposit and withdraw cash, securely and conveniently, is for millions of people. This is a difficult period for people with rising bills. People can always withdraw the amount of cash that they need to the penny at any of our 11,500 Post Offices.”