New data from Mastercard has revealed that 66 per cent of all transactions across the UK are now contactless, with 45 per cent admitting their use of cash has decreased throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and 22 per cent stating they no longer use cash at all.

Proprietary data and consumer research also showed that 83 per cent agreed that contactless payments are a cleaner way to pay, with 43 per cent using contactless more often since the pandemic began, while nine per cent have started to use contactless for the first time.

“The shift to contactless has been accelerating over the past few years in the UK and it is clear that this rate of adoption has increased in recent months as a result of the pandemic and recent raise in the contactless limit," stated Marcia Clay, senior vice president of market development for the UK at Mastercard.

Three quarters (76 per cent) of Brits said they were very likely to continue using contactless payments after the pandemic ends, with 66 per cent saying they are now their preferred way to pay when making purchases in-store.

The most popular way of paying using contactless technology in the UK is with a debit or credit card (90 per cent), followed by mobile phone (21 per cent) and contactless enabled device such as a Garmin/Fitbit (three per cent). Grocery stores are the top destination for contactless usage (93 per cent) along with other retail stores (37 per cent) and pharmacies (29 per cent).

Mastercard surveyed 1,000 adults per country in the UK, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland and Russia during April.

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