Cushion · What you can absorb · 6 min read
How much cash to keep at home, and where
Keep around £100 at home in small notes, fives and tens, somewhere sensible rather than obvious. That is our working standard, not an official figure. Only 17% of UK adults keep any emergency cash at home (LINK Cash Index, published May 2026), yet card systems fail more often than cash does.
Why does cash still matter?
Because the tills stop before the shelves empty. In the April 2025 Iberian blackout, parts of the Iberian Peninsula were without power for up to 19 hours (NESO, checked 26 August 2026), and card payments failed widely, as reported at the time: the problem was not food or fuel, it was paying for them. A power cut does the same thing locally: the shop may be open on backup lighting while its card machine is dead.
LINK’s research shows how exposed most households are. In a major payment outage, 54% of people say they would go and withdraw cash, while only 36% could rely on cash already stored at home (LINK Cash Index, published May 2026). Being in the second group means skipping the queue at the machine, which is exactly where everyone else will be.
It is worth being honest about the official position too: the government’s emergency kit guidance lists water, food, torches and a radio, and does not mention cash (prepare.campaign.gov.uk, checked 26 August 2026). The cash rung is our addition, drawn from how payment outages actually play out.
How much cash should you keep at home?
Around £100 per household, and we will not pretend that number came down a mountain. It is our standard, sized to cover a few days of food, fuel, medicine and small essentials for a typical household if cards stop working. A single person could hold a little less, a large family a little more.
What it is not: a savings plan. Cash at home earns nothing and is not protected the way a bank balance is, so it stays small and the real cushion lives in savings. That is rung one of the ladder from nothing to six months’ expenses.
Why fives and tens beat twenties
In an outage, change becomes the scarce thing. A shop with a dead till and a calculator will take your £5 note for bread without blinking, but may not be able to break a £20, and will not want to.
- Aim for something like ten £5 notes and five £10 notes.
- A few pound coins help with parking, trolleys and small shops.
- Avoid £50 notes entirely; plenty of places will not take them on a normal day.
Where should you keep it?
Somewhere you can find it in the dark and a burglar cannot find it in a hurry. The classic spots, the bedside drawer, under the mattress, the biscuit tin on the counter, are the first places anyone looks, so pick something duller: inside a folder of paperwork, taped inside an unremarkable box in a cupboard, with the sewing kit.
Two rules from experience. First, tell one other adult in the house where it is, or an emergency becomes a treasure hunt. Second, do not be so clever that you forget the spot yourself.
On insurance: contents policies cover your possessions against theft and damage, but they set limits, and Citizens Advice notes there may be an upper limit for a single item and that exclusions vary by policy (Citizens Advice, checked 26 August 2026). Cover for cash kept at home is typically limited too, and the figure varies by insurer. [VERIFY: typical cash-in-home cover limits — neither the ABI nor Citizens Advice pages fetched 26 August 2026 give standard figures; check your own policy schedule] Keeping the amount around £100 keeps this a non-problem.
When do you spend it, and when do you replace it?
Spend it whenever cards will not work: a payment outage, a power cut, a broken card machine at the only open shop. That is its job, and an emergency you will not touch it in is no emergency fund at all.
Then replace it on your next normal shop or cash machine visit, the same week if you can. It also earns its keep in small ways, the school cake sale, the window cleaner, but top it back up each time. Once a year, check it is all still there and the notes are current.
Is cash still accepted?
Overwhelmingly, though not universally. LINK found 77% of retailers accept cash, while 14% had stopped accepting it within the past year, and 45% of consumers find it inconvenient when a business will not take cash (LINK Cash Index, published May 2026).
For emergency purposes the picture is better than that sounds, because the places that matter in a bad week, supermarkets, petrol stations, pharmacies, corner shops, overwhelmingly still take notes. You will find the odd card-only café; you will struggle to find a card-only supermarket.
Frequently asked questions
How much cash should I keep at home for emergencies?
Around £100 in small notes is our working standard for a household: enough for a few days of food, fuel and essentials when card payments fail. There is no official UK figure. Scale it a little for household size, and keep the serious money in savings instead.
Is cash at home covered by home insurance?
Usually only up to a limit, and the limit varies by policy. Citizens Advice notes contents policies set upper limits and exclusions that vary by provider, so check your own policy schedule before keeping more than about £100 at home.
What denominations are best?
Fives and tens, plus a few pound coins. When tills and card machines are down, shops run out of change quickly, so small notes buy things at face value while twenties get refused. Skip £50 notes altogether.
Should I keep coins as well?
A small tube of pound coins is worth having for parking machines, trolleys and small purchases. Beyond that, notes are lighter, easier to store and easier to count. This is a float, not a piggy bank.
Do shops still take cash?
Mostly. LINK found 77% of retailers accept cash, though 14% stopped within the past year (LINK Cash Index, published May 2026). The essentials, supermarkets, petrol stations and pharmacies, almost all still do, which is what matters in a bad week.
Where should I not hide cash?
Anywhere a stranger would check first: bedside drawers, under mattresses, jewellery boxes, kitchen tins. Also anywhere damp, and anywhere so obscure you will not remember it. Dull and dry beats ingenious.
Sources & review
- LINK Cash Index, LINK, published May 2026: 17% keep emergency cash at home, 54% would withdraw in an outage, 36% would rely on stored cash, 77% of retailers accept cash, 14% stopped in the past year, 45% find refusal inconvenient. Checked 26 August 2026.
- Reflections on the April 2025 Iberian event, NESO: parts of the Iberian Peninsula without power for up to 19 hours on 28 April 2025. Checked 26 August 2026.
- Household contents insurance, Citizens Advice: what contents insurance covers, single-item upper limits, exclusions varying by policy. Checked 26 August 2026.
- Home insurance, Association of British Insurers: what contents cover protects. No standard cash limit given; see [VERIFY] above. Checked 26 August 2026.
- Get prepared for emergencies, UK Government: the official kit list, which does not include cash. Checked 26 August 2026.
Reviewed by: TBC (money reviewer pending). Review date: 26 August 2026. Items marked [VERIFY] need checking before publication. This page describes official guidance and our own household standard; it is not financial advice.