Post Office breaks monthly cash handling record again as £3bn barrier is breached

Post offices also saw their biggest ever month for personal cash withdrawals with £743m withdrawn, up from £692m in October and £562m in November 2020.

By every measure, the importance of the Post Office’s cash services increased, with £1.04bn of business cash deposits up 4% on last month and 45% on a year ago.

The role of the Post Office in handling cash has received particular attention because of the widespread closure of bank branches.

Martin Kearsley, banking director at the Post Office, said:

“Each month comes news of further bank branch closures and in many communities across the country, Post Office is already the last counter in town.

“Business and personal cash deposits, as well as personal cash withdrawals, are all significantly up on last year and postmasters are now routinely handling around £3 billion worth of cash every month.”

A recent Post Office survey found nearly half (44%) of small hospitality and leisure businesses in the UK rely on cash daily.

A third (34%) of hospitality and leisure business owners said they would fear for the security of their business if they didn’t have the ability to deposit cash at the end of each day.

Business cash deposits have exceeded a billion pounds every month since June 2021.