Barclaycard, which sees nearly half of the nation’s credit and debit card transactions, will be rolling out the deployment of the new £45 contactless limit across UK retailers from 1 April 2020.

The payments provider, which provides the technology to power over 150,000 terminals across the UK retail sector, is supporting the increased threshold to help prevent the spread of Coronavirus. Adjusting the contactless limit from £30 to £45 will allow more customers to make payments without touching card terminals or handling cash.

Deployment will be prioritised for retailers in key sectors, including grocery & supermarket stores, bakeries, pharmacies and petrol service stations. Barclaycard will be supporting the deployment of the higher contactless limit to other merchants in due course.

Barclaycard has a long history of payments innovation in the UK, launching the UK’s first contactless payments card in 2007 and leading the roll out of ‘touch and go’ payments across the Transport for London Network.

Rob Cameron, CEO of Barclaycard Payments said: “It’s more important than ever for merchants and their customers to be mindful of their collective health and safety. We are proud to be taking a leadership position in the UK by commencing the deployment of a higher contactless threshold. By supporting the ability of customers to spend up to £45 via contactless, we are playing a part in helping UK consumers to pay safely and securely in these challenging times”.

A brief history of contactless payments

• 2007: Barclaycard pioneers contactless payments in the UK with the OnePulse card, which could be used to pay at c22,000 payment terminals across the TfL network and in c6,000 retailers. The spending limit per transaction is initially set at £10.
• 2010: The Contactless payment limit increases from £10 to £15.
• 2011: The first mobile payment device enters the UK as Barclaycard and Orange join forces to launch Quick Tap, which lets users make payments by tapping their phone on a contactless payment reader.
• 2012: Barclaycard introduces PayBand, the UK’s first wearable payment device and also PayTag – a sticker less than a third the size of a credit card that sticks securely to the back of a mobile phone, turning it instantly into a contactless Barclaycard. The contactless payment limit also rises from £15 to £20 and contactless can also been used to pay for travel on London’s 8,500 buses.
• 2013: Annual contactless transactions reach £1bn for the first time.
• 2014: Barclaycard worked with TfL on the second phase of introducing contactless to London’s travel network by aiding the evolution of the yellow Oyster card readers to enable them to read contactless cards.
• 2015: Barclaycard creates the nation’s first payments fashion wearables. The spending limit per transaction rises from £20 to £30.
• 2020: Contactless limit increases from £30 to £45.