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

The value of withdrawing cash from an ATM fell 4 per cent last year to more than £76bn, according to ATM network Link.

Figures from the ATM and cash access network show £76.7bn was withdrawn from Link ATMs in 2025, with 1.27bn transactions recorded throughout the year; That’s down nearly eight percent from 1.39 billion transactions in 2024.

Link transactions represent 77 per cent of ATM transactions in the UK; the rest are mostly customers using their own banks or the building society’s ATMs.

The busiest day at Link’s ATMs in 2025 is December 19, when £355 million was withdrawn, the cash machine provider said.

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

Link had previously said it expected Christmas Eve to be its busiest day in 2025, but ultimately £353 million of withdrawals took place that day, just below the 19 December figure.

Historically, the busiest day for cash machines on the Link network was 22 December 2017, when £766 million was withdrawn.

Link Strategy Director Graham Mott said despite the “general downward trend” in annual cash withdrawal rates: “Cash remains important to many people and £76bn was still withdrawn from Link ATMs last year.

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

“It remains an essential and durable payment option for millions of people.”

The figures also show that there were 42,403 Link ATMs in December compared to 44,569 in December 2024, a drop of nearly five per cent.

In the final total, 33,710 ATMs were made available to consumers free of charge and 8,693 ATMs were charged.

In 2010, 21,687 Link ATMs were fee-based and 41,581 were free.