Kirkcaldy moving to cashless society faster than elsewhere in UK, survey claims

The Lang Toun is third behind top ranked Aberdeen, and second placed Plymouth. It is ahead of Brighton, Dundee and Exeter.

Aberdeen shows the highest acceptance of card payments as 96.2% of payments from July 2022 to June 2023 were cashless. Kirkcaldy recorded 94.2%.

The surge could arguably be down to the convenience it offers shoppers - or it comes as more places opt for cardless payment only approach leaving customers with little alternative. Supermarkets across town have moved largely to self service checkouts which don’t always offer the option of paying by cash,.

The issue has raised concerns in some quarters as bank branches are closed, and there has been a drop in the number of cash machines.

Jon Knott, head of customer insight from Dojo, said: “Our society is making it harder to access cash. According to LINK, the total number of ATMs in the UK has fallen by 6% and we have seen a huge decline in banks on our High Street in the last two years with 1,405 reportedly closing.

“The digitisation of payments is a natural shift for both businesses and consumers but with a proportion of the UK struggling to adopt digital payment methods at the same rate, there is a clear need for better education about digital financial transactions to make sure that everyone feels confident in handling their money online.”