The busiest day for cash withdrawals in 2025 – and it wasn’t Christmas Eve

New figures from Link ATMs show that cash withdrawals are still in decline

The value of ATM cash withdrawals fell four per cent to more than £76 billion last year, according to cash machine network Link.

Figures from the ATM and cash access network show £76.7 billion was withdrawn from Link ATMs in 2025, with 1.27 billion transactions recorded across the year, down about eight per cent from 1.39 billion transactions in 2024.

Link transactions represent 77 per cent of the UK’s ATM transactions, with the remainder mostly made up of customers using their own bank or building society’s ATMs.

The cash machine provider said the busiest day at Link’s ATMs in 2025 was on December 19, when £355 million was withdrawn.

The average ATM withdrawal value in 2025 was just over £90, according to Link’s figures.

The value of ATM withdrawals declined by four per cent in 2025 (PA)

Link had previously said it expected Christmas Eve to be the busiest day of 2025, but in the end, it recorded £353 million in withdrawals on that day – just below the December 19 figure.

Historically, the busiest day for cash machines on the Link network was December 22 2017, when £766 million was withdrawn.

Graham Mott, director of strategy, Link, said that despite the “overall downward trend” in cash withdrawals annually: “Cash remains important to many people and £76 billion was still withdrawn from Link ATMs last year.

“People may be visiting cash machines less often and some are relying exclusively on a digital wallet on their phone, but cash continues to be a vital budgeting tool for many.

“It remains an essential and resilient payment choice for millions.”

The figures also show that there were 42,403 Link ATMs in December, down by about five per cent compared with 44,569 in December 2024.

Within the latest total, 33,710 ATMs were free for consumers to use and 8,693 were charging.

Back in 2010, 21,687 Link ATMs were pay-to-use and 41,581 were free-to-use.