The Future of Cash

Dispelling the myth of a cashless society

While it’s true that cash use has declined slowly and steadily over the last decade with the introduction of more sophisticated mobile and digital payment methods, cash is still very much alive and well. In fact, a report from Nationwide Building Society released in January 2025 revealed that cash usage has growth consecutively for the last three years in the UK.

While many businesses chose to go cashless during the pandemic, the majority of companies are now happy to accept cash again. Since the cost-of-living crisis hit, the use of cash is rising, as it helps people budget more effectively. Cash usage is enjoying a resurgence across all demographics of society, and particularly with younger people, who have become fans of ‘cash-stuffing’, regularly posting videos about this on TikTok. The truth is that the majority of the country still use cash for at least some of their regular purchases every week.

In 2024 the government introduced a new law to protect consumer’s access to cash and we’re seeing a resurgence in people wanting to protect it as a payment choice, now and in the future, so, despite an array of media reports to the contrary, the UK is a long way from becoming a cashless society.

Volumatic and the Cash Industry

As industry-leading cash-handling experts, Volumatic is proud to be held in high regard by the cash industry and we regularly partner with other industry experts to share our joint knowledge to help businesses make better decisions about cash use and acceptance. We focus on making cash as convenient, safe and efficient as possible for our clients with our range of money counter solutions. Volumatic remains at the forefront of technology and industry news to make sure we can deliver the best cash handling products and the best service possible for our clients.

Drawing from the latest research and industry trends, we’re here to share our knowledge to help cash work harder for you and your business – and our partners help us to impart this knowledge. The Bank of England were guest speakers at our recent webinar on the launch of the new King Charles banknotes, and we’ve regularly worked with them at our conferences and our previous Cash and COVID webinar, exploring the impact of the pandemic on cash, and helping to dispel the myth that cash payments helped to spread the COVID virus.

We also attend many events and conferences across the globe to help us keep abreast of the latest industry news and at the forefront of cash handling evolutions – we attended the Future of Cash Conference in Istanbul in 2023, where industry professionals discussed how the demand for cash is now returning following the pandemic and how the access to cash agenda is gathering pace.

Volumatic’s whitepaper research conducted in 2021 – Consumers Demand Payment Choice – was written in partnership with cash industry experts including the Bank of England, Vaultex and Enryo, along with one of our retail partners, The Co-op Food Group, and found that UK consumers still very much wanted the choice of paying by cash. This view has been further supported by the retailers we met with at our Cash 2030 conference in 2022 and by The Cash Census report produced by the RSA in 2023.

Our Industry Partners include:

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By entering your details below, you can receive a copy of our ‘Consumers Demand Payment Choice’ white paper, and stay up to date with the latest cash news from Volumatic. In collaboration with the Bank Of England, Vaultex, The Co-op Food Group and others, our white paper shares insights to help your business continue to move forward in the years following the pandemic.