The ‘Cash in Shop’ service is the brainchild of cash management firm Loomis and fintech provider Sonect. It differs from existing cashback offers, as there is no need to actually make a purchase first. Instead you can simply choose when and where to collect cash from participating shops. 

The Sonect App will show you which shops have cash available, and allow you to pre-order money which can be collected within minutes, and without a charge. Users will also be able to have cash delivered alongside their food deliveries.

The idea has already been trialled successfully in Switzerland, and will initially launch in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent in March.

Simon Wood, commercial director of Loomis, said: “A huge portion of society relies on cash, so we need to keep innovating to ensure we have the infrastructure to support demand. Cash in Shop is a fantastic initiative which matches the needs of consumers and retailers, and will improve the availability of cash in the areas that need it most.”

Ron Delnovo, the UK director of Sonect, added that this was “the first stage of a national roll out which will see this new and innovative way of accessing cash made available to everyone in the UK”.

Access to cash

While people across the UK are increasingly comfortable using cards for their spending, there remain an awful lot of people who prefer to use cash. However, having access to ATMs in order to get that cash is becoming more difficult.

A study by consumer champions Which? last year found that a whopping 13,000 cash machines have disappeared in the last three years, giving people far fewer options when it comes to making withdrawals.

What’s more, Link ‒ the nation’s biggest cash machine operator ‒ has warned that without action being taken the number of ATMs in operation across the UK could halve in the next two years. It reported that the number of ATM transactions last year crashed by 37%, due in large part to the various national and regional lockdowns.

The government has promised to introduce legislation which protect access to cash, following an investigation last year which found that as many as 10 million people either rely on cash for their day-to-day spending or would struggle without it.