UK to more than double contactless spending limit to £100

Rishi Sunak announces rise in contactless transaction limit
SUNAK: UK contactless transaction limit increase aims to provide “a welcome boost to retail”

The UK is to increase the limit for contactless transactions from £45 (US$63) to £100 (US$140), the UK Treasury has announced.

“As we begin to open the UK economy and people return to the high street, the contactless limit increase will make it easier than ever before for people to pay for their shopping, providing a welcome boost to retail that will protect jobs and drive growth,” the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak said prior to his budget speech to Parliament.

The increase is expected to come into effect later this year, as payment terminals are upgraded to accept the new limit.

City lobby group UK Finance called on the UK Treasury to increase the contactless transaction limit to £100 in January, while nearly a third of UK consumers (32%) said they favoured an increase to £100 in a YouGov survey in August 2020.

The UK government originally raised the contactless limit from £30 to £45 in March 2020.

• Find full and up-to-date details of worldwide contactless limit increases in NFCW’s table of contactless transaction limit changes.

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