UK Hospitality QR Code & Contactless Stats Hub
In 2025, 39% of all UK payments were contactless (19.2 billion payments) and cash fell to 8%, according to UK Finance. Barclays' most recent published figures (April 2025) show 94.6% of eligible in-store card payments, those up to £100, were contactless in 2024, with contactless payments in hospitality and leisure up 3.7%. QR codes are a smaller but real request: 19% of UK hospitality businesses told Lloyds Bank in 2025 that customers ask to pay by QR code. Sources are linked at the foot of the page.
Last updated: 15 October 2026 · UK Finance publishes its payments report each summer
How the UK paid in 2025
UK Finance counted 49.7 billion payments in 2025, up 2%. Its monthly card data shows the same picture more recently: in June 2026 contactless made up 76% of debit card transactions and 67% of credit card transactions, with 1.57 billion contactless payments worth £26 billion in the month. More payment figures, including who still relies on cash and mobile wallet use by age, are on our UK cash and card payment statistics page.
Contactless overall and in hospitality
Barclays sees nearly 40% of UK credit and debit card transactions, so its figures are a large sample rather than a full count. Only the growth figures are specific to hospitality; the rest cover all in-store spending. Our reading: almost every eligible card payment at a bar, till or reception desk is now a tap, and older guests are no exception.
What is the contactless limit now?
When MoneySavingExpert asked banks and card firms in March 2026, all 17 that replied, including Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, NatWest, Monzo and Starling, said they were keeping the £100 limit for now. Customers' rights to a refund for fraud are unchanged. Phone and watch payments confirmed with a fingerprint, face or passcode were already outside the card limit.
QR codes in UK hospitality
Lloyds surveyed 250 UK hospitality owners and managers in August 2025; the café and food truck figures come from small sub-groups. The me&u survey of 250 people who visit venues monthly was commissioned by a company that sells QR order-and-pay systems; it also found 88% of guests at competitive socialising venues (bars built around an activity such as darts or crazy golf) and 83% at large pubs and bars favoured QR ordering. The most recent GB-wide survey of QR use at venues is YouGov's from September 2021, when 65% of adults who knew what a QR code was had used one at a venue in the previous three months. Our advice: check regularly that the codes on your tables and walls are still yours; a code engraved into the sign makes a stuck-on replacement easier to spot.
Card and QR tips: what the law says
The Employment Rights Act 2025 adds a duty to consult workers on the tipping policy and review it every three years. As of October 2026 its start date had not been confirmed, and the Government consulted on a revised code of practice from August to September 2026.
Global figures, clearly labelled
Frequently asked questions
What percentage of UK payments are contactless?
39% of all UK payments in 2025 were contactless, 19.2 billion payments (UK Finance, August 2026). Counting only in-store card payments of up to £100, Barclays put the share at 94.6% in 2024.
What is the contactless limit in the UK in 2026?
£100 per card payment at major banks. Since 19 March 2026 that is no longer a regulatory cap: the FCA lets banks with strong fraud controls set their own limits, but all 17 banks and card firms that answered MoneySavingExpert in March 2026 were keeping £100.
Do customers want to pay by QR code in pubs and restaurants?
Some do. In Lloyds Bank's 2025 survey of 250 UK hospitality businesses, 19% said customers ask to pay by QR code (23% of cafés), while 77% said customers ask to pay by contactless, the most common request.
Are older customers using contactless?
Yes. Barclays found 84.1% of over-65s used contactless in 2024, and they were the fastest-growing age group for the fourth year running.
Do card tips have to go to staff?
Yes. Since 1 October 2024, the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 has required employers in England, Scotland and Wales to pass all tips, including card tips, to workers in full. Tips must be shared fairly and paid by the end of the following month.
Are QR codes safe for customers to scan?
Mostly, but fake codes are a real risk: Action Fraud received 784 reports of QR code scams between April 2024 and April 2025, with nearly £3.5m lost. Check regularly that the codes on your tables and walls are still yours and haven't been covered by a sticker.
Where these figures come from
Sources
- UK Finance, UK Payment Markets Report 2026 (19 August 2026): press release and summary
- UK Finance, card spending data (June 2026 figures, released September 2026)
- Barclays, Barclays data shows contactless spending broke new record in 2024 (1 April 2025)
- Financial Conduct Authority, Greater flexibility to be given in setting future contactless limits (19 December 2025)
- MoneySavingExpert, contactless limit survey of card issuers (19 March 2026)
- Lloyds Bank, From Till to Table (250 UK hospitality businesses, fieldwork August 2025) and summary
- me&u, QR order and pay: UK guests have their say (survey with KAM Research, October 2023)
- YouGov, QR code use survey (September 2021)
- Action Fraud quishing figures, as reported by Deeside.com (28 June 2025)
- Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023, commencement regulations; Code of Practice on fair and transparent distribution of tips; consultation on a revised code (2026); Employment Rights Act 2025
- Uniqode, QR code statistics (updated April 2026)
- 360iResearch, hotel contactless check-in solution market
UK figures come first and are from the original publisher. Vendor-commissioned surveys and paid forecasts are labelled as such. Checked 15 October 2026.
Free tools and more data
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