Is this illegal?

[RandomCar]

So I’ve got a large amount of cash that I’ve been keeping in a sealed money jar. The money is to pay for a holiday. Time has come to book the holiday, but there are literally no banks near me. I’ve googled and my closest bank is two hours travel. The weird pop ups that they do are only on a Wednesday when I have to be at the office. I’ve realised there is a close by Halifax bank, which I don’t have an account with, but my kids do.
would there be anything wrong with me paying the money into one of their bank accounts and then using their bank account to pay for the holiday? It’s just a child’s savings account so no issues with spending the money, but is there a tax implication or issue or anything? I don’t want to risk this money, it’s taken me years to save and I need to it afford the holiday.

How will you get the money out to pay. You’ll have to transfer it to your account first so you can use your card to pay.

You can pay into most banks at the Post Office?

You can use the Post Office to pay cash into any bank account

You must have a post office you can use nearby?

Is there a Post Office nearer to you that you could use to pay it into your bank account? There is a limit for different banks but generally £3000.

Do you have a post office near you? The ones inside Spar shops are open till 10pm near me, and you can pay into most banks there

Most accounts will allow you to pay in at a post office or pay point.
Unlikely the kids accounts have debit cards that would allow a large transaction like a holiday purchase.

Yes, pay it in at the Post Office because some banks don't allow you to deposit cash into other people's accounts.

Although it might be different for a child's account.

But either way, they're quite hot on money laundering so it might flag something up.

Also, be prepared to answer questions over where the cash has come from.

Do you bank with Lloyds? You can pay in via Halifax

Or the Post Office as said

Post office accepts deposits for most U.K. banks

Everyone has already said what I was thinking which is post office, but! As someone who has worked for the fire service and watched people's life savings go up in smoke multiple times over the years I implore you to never save like this again, please just open an ISA or building society account or something. I get the heebie jeebies thinking about the howling one woman made when 15k she'd been saving for decades for her kids 21st was just gone in seconds.

If you don't want to use a Post Office then just open a basic Halifax account, deposit the money and transfer it to the account you want to use.

Thank you all so much! I didn’t know I could pay in at the post office!

It will have to be bagged up in proper money bags in the correct denomination as well, so you could be in for a long haul when doing that job