Our research finds that being digitally excluded and having a low-income have the largest effect on how likely someone is to rely on cash.
Our cash coverage data suggests that in the 2 years to June 2023, 1,358 bank and building society branches and 4,450 ATMs closed.
To protect consumers who may be negatively impacted, we need to understand who is most likely to rely on cash.
Approximately 6% of UK adults rely on cash for most or all purchases. However, there’s limited empirical evidence on the demographic characteristics that are most strongly associated with individuals that rely on cash.
We’ve used results from our Financial Lives 2022 Survey and logistic regression analysis to estimate how demographic characteristics affect the probability of an individual relying on cash.
Our key finding is that you’re more likely to rely on cash if you:
- have low digital capability or poor digital access (4 times as likely)
- are in a low-income household (3 times as likely)
- are not employed (twice as likely)
- have poor health
- live in an urban area
- live in Northern Ireland or Scotland
These findings suggest that without data to measure cash usage directly, digital exclusion and low income would be the best measures of levels of cash reliance across the UK.
Authors
Rachel Ennis and Daniel Bogiatzis-Gibbons
Disclaimer
Research notes contribute to our work by providing rigorous research results and stimulating debate. While they may not necessarily represent the position of the FCA, they are one source of evidence we may use to discharge our functions and inform our views. We strive to ensure research outputs are accurate, through checks including independent referee reports, but the nature of such research and choice of research methods is a matter for the authors using their expert judgement. To the extent that research notes contain any errors or omissions, they should be attributed to the individual authors, rather than the FCA.