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UK Finance: Average contactless payment increases by almost 30% since new £100 limit was introduced
December 2021 card spending data from UK Finance reveals that the average amount spent per contactless card transaction rose by almost 30 per cent following the contactless spending limit increasing from £45 to £100 in October last year. In September, prior to the contactless limit increase, the average spend per contactless payment was £11.86, which increased to £15.30 in December.
The increased limit came into effect on 15 October, but it took a period of time for retailers and payment providers to update their systems and offer the new £100 limit, which means the increase in the average payment took time to show up.
The table below shows how the average transaction amount increased:
| Month | Average contactless transaction amount |
| September 2021 | £11.86 |
| October 2021 | £12.27 |
| November 2021 | £13.57 |
| December 2021 | £15.30 |
For 2021 as a whole, the card spending data shows a total of 13.1 billion contactless payments were made in the year – equivalent to 415 transactions every second. This is up 36 per cent compared with 2020 and 52 per cent higher than pre-pandemic levels in 2019.
The total value of contactless transactions in 2021 also increased, reaching £165.9 billion. This is 46 per cent higher than in 2020 and 106 per cent more than 2019.
| Total number of contactless transactions | Total value of contactless transactions | |
| 2019 | 8.6 billion | £80.5 billion |
| 2020 | 9.6 billion | £113.5 billion |
| 2021 | 13.1 billion | £165.9 billion |
The proportion of card payments that were contactless continued to increase in December 2021 and reached its highest recorded level, accounting for 69 per cent of all debit card transactions and 56 per cent of all credit card transactions.
Lee Hopley, Director of Economic Insight and Research at UK Finance, said: “These figures show the continued popularity of contactless payments, as well as the fact people are making higher value payments. From October last year the new £100 limit was rolled out and it gives customers greater choice about how they pay for things like their weekly shop or a tank of fuel. For 2021 as a whole there were over 13 billion contactless transactions, which was a significant increase on the previous year, and in December a record 69 per cent of all debit card payments were contactless purchases.”
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