2,500 years after the first use of coins as payment tokens and 300 years since the first Bank of England banknotes were issued, cash remains the most common payment method. Although the proportion of payments made by cash is in slow decline, in 2004 there were still around 25 billion payments made in cash, accounting for two-thirds of all payments. The value of these payments was around £273 billion, representing 24% of GDP.

Cash payment volumes are expected to continue to decline slowly and migration to card payments and the Direct Payment of benefits will be important influences. It is projected that cash use will still account for 52% of all payments in ten years' time.

The most popular method of obtaining cash to make purchases is from an ATM. 59% of the cash acquired in 2004 came from ATMs. Other sources such as wages and benefit payments are reducing in importance.

There are many players in the cash cycle in which notes and coin are printed and minted, supplied to businesses and consumers, paid into accounts and processed prior to reissue. These include cash processing centres, secure carrier centres and vehicle fleets, branches of financial institutions, retailer outlets and other service providers such as the vending and transport industries.

Resilience of the cash system

UK Cash Industry Pandemic Code of Conduct (PDF 117kb) Pandemic Plan for UK Cash Industry (136 kb)