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% 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% compared with 2020 and 52% higher than pre-pandemic levels in 2019.
The total value of contactless transactions in 2021 also increased, reaching £165.9bn. This is 46% higher than in 2020 and 106% more than 2019.
| Total number of contactless transactions | Total value of contactless transactions | |
| 2019 | 8.6bn | £80.5bn |
| 2020 | 9.6bn | £113.5bn |
| 2021 | 13.1bn | £165.9bn |
The proportion of card payments that were contactless continued to increase in December 2021 and reached its highest recorded level, accounting for 69% of all debit card transactions and 56% 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% of all debit card payments were contactless purchases.”
