The global IT outage on 19 July, which saw some independent stores’ card machines go down, saw Post Office (PO) cash withdrawals increase by 13% compared with the same day in 2023, and total £42.8m in one day.

Overall in July, POs handled £3.77bn in cash, setting a record for highest sum of cash transactions – up £200m on the previous record set in May 2024. Additionally, personal cash withdrawals totalled £917m in July, up 8% month on month, and 12.5% year on year.

Ross Borkett, banking director at PO, said: “Our figures indicate that demand for cash is as strong as ever as people rely on cash to budget and businesses rely on it to survive a volatile trading environment. Postmasters and their teams play a vital role in supporting small businesses to trade by providing a convenient and secure location to deposit their cash takings with many branches open long hours and some at weekends.”

Worldwide IT outages impact retailers

The news comes following the Financial Conduct Authority’s recent announcement that it will protect access to cash, with free-to-use ATMs in local shops and other locations to gain new protections from being removed under new powers to be introduced in September.

Borkett continued: “We are pleased that the Financial Conduct Authority have recently published new access to cash regulations to give both consumers and businesses more certainty around the future of cash.”

Business cash deposits also exceeded £1.2bn in a single month for the first time, up 9% year on year (£1.14bn in July 2023).

While June saw PO struggle to meet previous benchmarks due to unseasonable weather, the company said that the return to summer weather in July has helped contribute to the record cash handling month.

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