Contactless Payments To Rise To £100 — Chris Norminton
The limit on a single payment using contactless card technology will rise to £100 later this year, the Treasury has confirmed.
The pandemic has accelerated a move away from cash, with shoppers often being encouraged to use contactless in many stores for public health reasons. It has been less than a year since the limit was raised from £30 to £45. To protect workers and consumers during the Covid outbreak, an increase to the current limit of £45 was rushed through by the regulator in April last year.
Regulators say businesses could still decide themselves whether to accept the higher limit. The use of contactless technology by consumers has risen sharply in recent years, with more services adopting the technology and most shops offering it as an option.
The latest figures show that the proportion of contactless payments had fallen slightly compared with pre-pandemic levels, because lockdown measures hit the use of pubs, restaurants and public transport. They accounted for 41% of card transactions.
However, there was a 16% increase in the total value of contactless payments in the UK in October, compared with the same month a year earlier, according to the latest data from UK Finance, which represents banks.
The amount spent on contactless hit a monthly record in August, boosted by the Eat Out to Help Out scheme and fewer coronavirus-related restrictions. A total of £8.4bn was spent on credit and debit cards using contactless during that month.
Sporting venues and events will be delighted with the news, as they stand ready to start welcoming fans back to events in the very near future within the UK.
The recent uplift in the contactless limit will be really welcome news within the sporting industry. Raising the limit to £100 will lower the number of people using cash at big ticket events, and that’s great news in this time of Coronavirus.
Even with the vaccine roll-out well underway in all 4 home nations within the UK, concerns still abound around Coronavirus and it’s unlikely we’ll be free of restrictions completely even by the end of the year.
Contactless as opposed to cash is really important while we continue to fight off this global pandemic, both for staff and visiting fans. The fewer people handling and touching money the better, and it’s likely that most sporting venues and events will heavily promote the use of contactless payments and card readers, with the possibility that some may be completely cashless.
Let’s face it, none of us could have predicted all of this even a year ago, but now raising the contactless limits and reducing our reliance on money that will change hands multiple times is a very, very good thing.
At Sporting Pay, we have the right terminal or gateway to enable you and your club/venue to take payments of every kind and on every occasion. We have the latest technology, and a growing list of sporting partners taking advantage of our offers — our latest partner, Hamilton Academicals, have just joined us and we couldn’t be more delighted with the feedback we continue to receive during these difficult times.
