UK Post Office: cash deposits are exceeding what we saw at the start of this year

Cash deposits by business and personal customers at Post Office branches in September were up 7.7% on same month last year.

Branches saw the highest amount of deposits in a single month (£2 billion) and this was the first time since February, before lockdown, that cash deposits exceeded the equivalent month in 2019.

Overall, cash deposits and withdrawals by business and personal customers amounted to over £2.6 billion in September, up 11.3% on August (£2.35 billion). Data is taken from the third Post Office Cash Tracker showing the billions of pounds deposited and withdrawn each month at its 11,500 branch locations.

Nick Read, Chief Executive at the Post Office, said: “Our data shows that cash deposits are exceeding what we saw at the start of this year, as well as the amount that was deposited at the same point last year, well before the Covid-19 pandemic struck. We’ll be monitoring closely what impact the recently introduced lockdown measures have on small businesses’ ability to stay open and deposit their takings at our branches. They will continue to be the place where cash can be quickly and locally deposited helping to give small business owners more time to keep serving their customers.”

Business customers

Cash deposits specifically by business customers amounted to £965 million showing how much small businesses and independent retailers continue to rely on cash to operate. The figure for business cash deposits in September 2020 was the highest amount since February 2020 when £890 million was deposited at Post Office branches. Cash deposits by businesses were up 16.2% when compared to last month

Personal customers

The value of cash deposits by personal customers remains high, and greatly exceeds pre-Covid-19 levels. In September, over £1 billion was deposited in cash at Post Office counters. September was the first month this year were personal cash deposits exceeded a billion pounds in a single month. In terms of cash withdrawals by personal customers, £591 million was withdrawn at the Post Office’s 11,500 counters. This is up 7% compared with last month. Whilst withdrawals have yet to exceed the equivalent month the previous year, September’s gap was the smallest all year with the amount withdrawn down 2.6% compared with September 2019.

Commenting on September’s data, Martin Kearsley, Director of Banking at Post Office, said: “It’s encouraging to see the highest amount of money deposited at our branches all year. Cash deposits by personal customers recovered quickly after the first UK-wide lockdown and now far exceed what we saw even at the start of the year. We are encouraged to see Business deposits now recovering strongly too and continue to support all local businesses with their cash needs. Cash withdrawals are making a steady recovery which signifies growing consumer confidence which in turn helps small businesses and local high streets as we know where cash is taken out locally it tends to be spent locally too.”