A new white paper from independent financial services consultants Enryo Consulting, published in partnership with OneBanx, has once again highlighted the significance of cash in the UK’s payments infrastructure – something that cash handling experts Volumatic wholeheartedly support.
The white paper – Cash as a Payments Infrastructure – published in June 2025, asserts that despite predictions that the UK (and the rest of the world) will become cashless in the near future, in reality, “cash continues to play an important role in the day-to-day functioning of economies around the world.”
It’s certainly true that cash continues to be an essential part of life for millions of people across the UK. A study earlier this year from Nationwide Building Society and shared by Volumatic earlier this month showed that cash usage in the UK has risen for the third year in a row and that cash is building momentum again. Far from being in decline, cash actually still accounts for billions of payments for UK businesses each year.
The relevance of cash is also being taken more seriously of late, with the government listening to industry experts like the FCA and the Treasury Committee when it comes to improving access to cash. Even the banking industry is now working towards offering more and more viable face-to-face banking services to consumers, via Banking Hubs, helping to maintain our cash infrastructure.
The Enryo Consulting white paper discusses the fact that while the use of cash as a day-to-day payment method was previously in a period of decline, accelerated by the COVID pandemic five years ago, it is now transitioning to a period of stability. It states, quite simply, that cash supports economic activity, financial inclusion, and, crucially, acts as a contingent payment method in times of crisis – something which was clearly demonstrated in the global IT outage last year and the more recent IT failures in Spain and Portugal.
It also raises the important point that cash is “one of society’s few levellers,” in that everyone understands cash, which is important in the ever-expanding digital world we’re now living in. Cash also remains vital for the most vulnerable individuals, who rely on cash and prefer to manage their finances with non-digital means.
The white paper also makes three recommendations to help the UK overcome challenges to help ensure access to cash and face-to-face banking continues to be viable. One of these recommendations is to offer more help to those struggling with digital services. The paper recognises there is a need and a place for a variety of payment methods working alongside each other, and that offering payment choice is key.
The importance of Payment Choice
Payment choice is a subject close to Volumatic’s heart. As global cash handling experts and industry thought-leaders when it comes to championing the use of cash, like Enryo Consulting, they too understand there is a place for other methods of payment alongside cash.
Following the pandemic, Volumatic produced a white paper – ‘Consumers Demand Payment Choice’ – in partnership with Enryo Consulting, the Bank of England and other industry experts and retailers.
Volumatic’s white paper found that while many consumers use digital payments, many also want the option to use cash for certain purchases, and do not like being restricted by establishments demanding card-only payments, because they either rely on cash or simply want to retain the right to use it when they wish to.
Retaining payment choice is a right that everyone across the UK should have. No-one should be excluded from using any particular payment method, as they all make a worthy contribution to our society, and cash should be seen as equally important as its digital counterparts. Like Enryo Consulting’s latest white paper states, “it’s time to realise that cash is not a niche payment method used only by a small segment of society.”
Supporting Enryo Consulting’s findings
Always keen to support fellow industry experts with their findings in support of cash, Volumatic MD James Harris endorses the new white paper, stating, “Volumatic have worked with Enryo Consulting for a number of years, and we have supported each other in our quest to highlight the importance of cash and its place in the UK’s payment infrastructure.”
“This new white paper highlights what we’ve all known for some time now – that cash is resurgent and far from disappearing; it is becoming increasingly important as the years roll by. This white paper serves as an important reminder to businesses of the relevance of cash in 2025 and is essential reading.”
David Fagleman, Enryo Consulting Director said of the new white paper, “For too long the narrative around cash has been one of decline when in fact, in many countries, even the most digitally advanced, cash use is steady and continues to play an important role in people’s lives and supporting economic activity. Only very few people are completely cashless.”
“Cash will be part of the payments landscape for years to come, which brings new opportunities for investment and innovation to ensure that the cash infrastructure remains fit for purpose and can continue meeting people’s needs.”
