One in five shop purchases now made in cash

Cash use in the shops rose for a second year in a row after a decade of falls, according to retailers.

Notes and coins were used in a fifth of transactions last year, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said, as shoppers found cash helped them to budget better.

The amount spent per purchase also dropped slightly from £22.43 in 2022, to £22.03 last year, it said.

The findings were published after charities told a committee of MPs that numerous groups were excluded from essential services and community venues that had started to refuse cash.

They cited issues for women in abusive relationships, whose partners use a bank account as a form of control or to track their movements.

Deidre Cartwright, policy manager at charity Surviving Economic Abuse, said: “Oftentimes access to cash is their only means to actually accessing essentials for themselves and their children.

“It’s a means for them to be able to escape an abuser, especially when that abuser can track them through a bank account, so it’s incredibly important for their safety and survival.”

Some older people and those with mental health issues were also far more comfortable using cash, the Treasury Committee heard, or did not have the digital skills or mental capability to operate only with cards, computers or phones.