Biggest POS payment methods in the UK 2030| ��ƽ��

Market share of cash, credit cards, and other payment methods at point of sale (POS) in the United Kingdom (UK) from 2017 to 2025, with a forecast for 2030

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Sources

Release date

March 2026

More information

Region

United Kingdom

Survey time period

2017 to 2025

Special properties

The source made multiple changes to its categories over time, see the "Details" tab for more information.

Supplementary notes

In 2022, the source stated it made two changes to the categories used in previous years. These include a combination of "credit cards" with "charge/deferred debit cards" and the split of BNPL from "POS financing" (which itself was added as a new category in 2020). The latter change was made to atone for the "growing importance of BNPL". This seems to have been reverted in 2023 - for the year 2022.

In 2024, the "debit card" and "prepaid card" categories were combined into a single category called "Debit and Prepaid Cards". These were then separated for 2025.

The figures have been collected from several publications. No figures were available for 2018 as the source did not release any reports that year.

Citation formats

Debit cards were the most popular method of POS transactions in the United Kingdom in 2025, accounting for ** percent of transactions. This was far higher than transactions with banknotes or coins, accounting for **** percent of brick-and-mortar payments in 2025. The UK's share of cash was one of the lowest worldwide, according to both a global survey on cash use across 43 countries and domestic research involving payment diaries across multiple countries.

Cash on a decline in the UK

Calculations using cash withdrawals and payment transactions indicate that the share of cash in the UK declined the fastest during the coronavirus pandemic. Numbers are estimates as no data exists on non-digital transactions in retail payments. Payment diaries are the only way central banks can map out consumers' use of cash in shops. The numbers provided may still not be accurate, as not all payment data required to make such estimates is readily available.

Do digital payments in the UK grow faster than in other countries?

The United Kingdom's preference for digital payments over cash is more pronounced than for most of Europe. Europe, however, is not the main region in the world when it comes to digital payments. The number of digital payments in Asia-Pacific is forecast to almost double between 2025 and 2030, a substantially higher growth rate than in North America and Europe combined. Latin America is forecast to see the highest increase in digital payment transaction value between 2024 and 2029, with North America seeing the least.