10 per cent of UK adults hardly used cash in 2018

cash

10 per cent of the adult population in the UK – around 5.4 million people – made either one or no cash payments per month in 2018.

That’s according to research from UK Finance, the trade association for the UK banking and financial services sector, who said that the number stood at 3.4 million for 2017.

As reported on Sky News, the same report found that cash was the primary means of spending for 4 per cent of consumers in 2018, although most paid bills using other methods, in what UK Finance called a “pick ‘n’ mix approach” to payments.

Debit cards remained the most frequently used payment method with 38 per cent of all payments, while up to a fifth of payments made by consumers were made using contactless technology – up from 16 per cent in 2017.

Stephen Jones, chief executive of UK Finance, said: “The same pick ‘n’ mix approach people now take when it comes to music, television or the news is expanding into payments, as consumers take advantage of new technologies to pay in a way that suits them.

“This rapid rate of technological change is set to continue over the coming decade, as people embrace the ever-widening number of ways to pay and manage their finances, depending on their needs and lifestyle.”