Just under half of UK consumers (47%) either expect or would prefer businesses to offer contactless payments for transactions of less than £20, research conducted by GfK for Lloyds Bank Cardnet reveals. 12% think not enough retailers offer contactless and 9% suggest that the current £20 spending limit, which is due to increase to £30 in September, is too low.

Of those that hold a contactless card, a quarter stated the speed of transaction was what they liked the most about contactless payments, followed by the ease of transacting (24%). The least favoured aspect of contactless payments is security, with over a third (37%) stating this as their main dislike.

More than half of those that want to use contactless (57%) don’t want the threshold to go above £30, over a third (38%) would be keen on the contactless threshold increasing up to £50 and less than a tenth (6%) would want to increase it to over £50.

Two thirds of those who hold a contactless card would still prefer a receipt for contactless payments with a small minority (15%) keen on receiving electronic receipts. Four in ten would continue to shop in businesses that do not offer contactless payments.

“Industry and our own data shows use of contactless is on the up and consumers are demonstrating a preference to use it to pay for low-value items,” says Aidene Walsh, director of commercial cards and acquiring solutions at Lloyds Banking Group.

“While certain consumers have currently said that they do not mind shopping with businesses that do not offer this facility, we would anticipate that, as more and more people become comfortable with paying through contactless and appreciate the ease of it, expectations around retailers offering it will increase.”