Following yesterday’s Treasury Committee report into the use of cash and its importance in communities, today research from personal finance website, Finder, has released results of a survey that reveals one in eight shoppers still rely on hard currency for their daily transactions.
It adds that the average Brit uses cash once every three days, and that three in five use it weekly.
The figure for daily use equates to seven million people in the country. Finder’s research also found that only 9% of Brits reported never using cash at all. Perhaps more significantly, over a quarter of Brits (26%) are using cash to budget or control their spending, helping them navigate the rising cost of living.
The number of cash payments has also remained steady in the past few years, hovering around the 6 billion mark each year between 2020 and 2023, after dropping significantly at the start of the pandemic.
In addition, power outages –, and cyber attacks like those at Marks & Spencer earlier this week have again prompted calls for cash to become ‘king’ again.
Kate Steere (left), personal finance expert at Finder, said: “Digital payments are widespread and the default for many of us, but cash remains a lifeline for older and vulnerable people or those who need it for budgeting, and recent payment failure incidents show it can be very useful to have in case of emergencies!
“There are concerns that people who rely on physical cash are being excluded by card-only shops and services. Our research also found that 2.8% of Brits don’t currently have a personal current account in their name, so cash acceptance is particularly essential in those cases.
“We’re not entering a cashless society any time soon…”
“Cash usage also seems to have reached something of a plateau. It’s not declining as quickly as it once was, but we’re not entering a cashless society any time soon. With millions of Brits still using cash every day, it’s clearly still a much-needed way to pay.
Finder commissioned Censuswide to carry out a nationally representative survey of adults aged 18+. A total of 2,000 people were questioned throughout Great Britain between 4 and 7 April 2025, with representative quotas for gender, age and region.
You can read Finder’s full research here.
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