Post Office personal cash deposit rises; Phenomenal rise in Northern Ireland

New figures today (13) reveal personal cash deposits at Post Offices totaled £1.4 billion in January, up over 9 per cent compared with December.

The Post Office has attributed the increase to an almost 100 per cent rise in cash deposits in Northern Ireland in January. On 16 January, the first of 500,000 £600 vouchers were issued by the Post Office to households who don’t pay for their energy by direct debit, on behalf of the Government.

A public awareness campaign was launched by the Post Office reminding people what identification they needed to bring in order to redeem their voucher.

Personal cash deposits in Northern Ireland totalled £204.3 million in January, compared with £103.1 million in December. Personal cash deposits in Northern Ireland on average are around £100 million a month.

On Feb 7, just over three weeks since starting the voucher roll out, Post Office confirmed all 500,000 vouchers had been dispatched. Post Office expects cash deposits for February to also be significantly higher than a traditional month.

Business cash deposits at Post Offices totalled £1.09 billion in January, the same amount that was deposited in December.

Personal cash withdrawals totalled £709 million in January, down 20% month-on-month. Post Office attributes the fall to the traditional uplift in cash withdrawals seen at Post Offices in the run-up to Christmas.

In total, £3.2 billion in cash was deposited and withdrawn over the counter at Post Offices in January. This compares to £3.3 billion in December and £3.27 billion in November.

Martin Kearsley, Banking Director at Post Office, said that billions of pounds worth of cash continues to be deposited every month at Post Offices. Postmasters are supporting local communities and businesses by keeping their branches open long hours and providing a convenient and secure location to deposit cash.

“In Northern Ireland, the ability of our 500 branches and our cash supply infrastructure to handle a 100 per cent increase in cash deposits is a testament to the phenomenal hard work Postmasters and their teams have undertaken to support people claim their much needed £600 energy voucher.

“Our Banking Framework agreement means the vast majority of people have had the option to deposit their £600, or an amount of their choosing, straight into their bank account at the Post Office and avoid leaving a branch with a significant amount of cash.

“We expect a significant amount of cash to be deposited in February too and we expect cash deposits to remain higher than before the voucher scheme started as more and more people recognise they can do their everyday banking at Post Offices.”