The Post Office has revealed that it handled £3.37 billion worth of cash transactions last month.

The value of transactions increased by more than £140 million compared to January 2023.

The Post Office said that personal cash deposits reached £1.42 billion over the four-week period, just short of the all-time record set in September 2022.

In December, 11,500 branches saw a record £930 million worth of cash withdrawals, with the run-up to Christmas always being the busiest month of the year for the Post office.

In comparison, personal cash withdrawals over the counter in January this year reached £778 million, up 10 per cent year-on-year.

Business cash deposits during the same month totalled £1.14 billion, the highest amount in a single month since June 2023.

The figures come amidst a wave of bank branch closures across the UK, with many consumers instead going to their local Post Office to withdraw or deposit cash.

The Post Office has partnerships with more than 30 banks, building societies, and credit unions, which means that 99 per cent of UK bank customers can access their accounts at their local branch.

Postmistress Nidhi Prashar, who has served Post Office customers in Surrey for 30 years at Oxted as well as serving customers for six years at her Epsom branch, said: “In Oxted there are no banks left and we meet the banking needs of the community – so it’s non-stop banking customers. In Epsom there are lots of banks and building societies, but we are open longer hours than all of them, so for some customers they find it more convenient to come here."

In January, Nationwide pledged not to leave a Chesire town after it became the last banking branch in the area.

Despite Sandbach having a population of around 18,000 people, Nationwide is now the only branch in the town following the closure of NatWest last year. Nationwide is currently serving more than 8,500 customers at the branch, first opened in 1969, with ATM usage up by 46 per cent in the past 12 months.

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