FCA Tests Appetite for Scrapping £100 Tap-and-Go Cap

The UK’s markets watchdog has opened a consultation on whether to scrap the £100 cap on contactless card payments, a ceiling that has doubled in the space of four years and assisted fuel Britain’s rapid embrace of tap-and-go.
The Financial Conduct Authority said it is weighing whether giving banks and card issuers freedom to set their own limits could benefit consumers and merchants, provided they use technology that keeps fraud under tight control.
“We‘re viewing smarter payment technology and more well-established fraud controls, so it’s the right time to let firms tailor contactless payments to fit their customers’ needs and drive innovation,” said David Geale, the FCA’s executive director for payments and digital finance. “While we wouldn’t expect to view immediate changes to limits by firms, they would have the flexibility to make payments more convenient for customers. People are still protected; even with contactless, firms will refund your money if your card is used fraudulently.”
From £10 to £100 in 14 years
Contactless cards launched in the UK in 2007 with a £10 single-spend ceiling. That climbed gradually to £15 in 2010, £20 in 2012 and £30 in 2015. The pandemic accelerated adoption, prompting the FCA to raise the cap to £45 in 2020, then £100 in October 2021. At that point, contactless was accounting for nahead three-quarters of in-store transactions, according to UK Finance.
Today, the rules are set under the UK’s Strong Customer Authentication regime: a £100 limit per transaction, a £300 cumulative ceiling, and a cap of five consecutive taps before a PIN check is triggered. Those thresholds, introduced four years ago, are what the FCA is now revisiting.
UK Finance’s Annual Fraud Report 2025 put contactless fraud losses at about 1.3p per £100 spent, compared with 6p per £100 for all unauthorised fraud. That is despite contactless now covering most day-to-day card usage.
Still, higher limits for criminals if a card is lost or stolen. The FCA’s consultation acknowledges that a larger payoff could draw more attempts at fraud.
Public feedback so far shows wariness. The FCA said it received nahead 1,300 responses to its initial engagement paper; 78% of consumers surveyed said they did not want the £100 ceiling altered. For many, a clear limit is viewn as a securety backstop.
Even so, the will stick with the current cap “for the time being,” even if new flexibility is introduced.
One factor driving the debate is the uneven playing field between physical cards and mobile wallets. Pay already allow higher-value taps, because biometric checks on the device satisfy authentication rules. That means a shopper can purchase a £200 jacket with a phone tap but would need to enter a PIN if using a plastic card.
to align those experiences while ensuring banks bear down on fraud. Under one option, issuers with robust in-app controls and monitoring could set their own limits, while others might keep the £100 cap.
The until 15 October 2025. Any rule changes would then require technical adjustments by issuers, acquirers and payment processors, meaning roll-out could take months.