News

New data published today by LINK, the UK’s cash access and ATM network, shows a small increase in the value of cash withdrawals at ATMs in 2022 as UK banking customers withdrew £83bn from cash machines compared to £79bn in 2021.

LINK: Consumers withdraw £83bn from ATMs in 2022

• Value of LINK ATM cash withdrawals up on 2021
• However, the number of transactions is down 40% since the pandemic
• Average banking customer withdrew £1,564 from cash machines in 2022
• Slight decline in number of ATMs driven by 11% decrease in pay to use machines

New data published today by LINK, the UK’s cash access and ATM network, shows a small increase in the value of cash withdrawals at ATMs in 2022 as UK banking customers withdrew £83bn from cash machines compared to £79bn in 2021. There was also a 5% increase in the total number of ATM transactions last year, rising from just over 1 billion to 1.024bn.

This means the average withdrawal per person over 16 in the UK was £1,564 last year (up on 2021 at £1,462).

ATM use is still considerably down and unlikely to return to pre-pandemic levels. In 2019, £115bn was withdrawn from cash machines.

Across the UK, Northern Ireland remains the most cash heavy of the nations with Northern Irish banking customers withdrawing an average £2,266 in 2022 compared to the South-West, where the average customer withdrew £1,069.

ATM withdrawals represent 90% of all cash withdrawals in the UK ahead of counter transactions at bank branches and Post Offices.

Overall, the number of ATMs decreased from 52,547 to 51,253. This number was driven by a fall in the number of charging ATMs, whereas the number of free to machines slightly increased.

LINK data shows that 99.9% of UK high streets have free access to cash within 1km. Since 2019, LINK has successfully run a community request initiative that allows members of the public to contact LINK directly if they believe their community does not have good enough access to cash. To date more than 150 community free to use ATMs have been installed by LINK.

Graham Mott, Director of Strategy, LINK: "These numbers aren’t surprising. It’s easy to forget that there was quite a significant lockdown at the beginning of 2021 and therefore 2022 was the first year we’ve had since 2019 where there were no interruptions. What we know is that our relationship with cash and ATMs has changed. While many people are now happy to use contactless or digital payments, our research shows there are very few people that are completely cashless. We also know that people are visiting cash machines less often, but on average take out more cash."

"It’s extremely good news that the Government is introducing legislation to help protect free access to cash. There are still over five million people who rely on access to cash and face-to-face banking services. Digital payments and banking may be fantastic for some, but at the moment, they don’t work for all, which is why this legislation is so important." 

Population based on adults aged 16 and over from Office for National Statistics (here)

Comparing the number of cash machines at the end of December 2020, 2021 and 2022