As autumn arrives, and the nights draw in, any opportunity to save valuable time at the checkouts on the way home is, in my view, to be welcomed! As a lover of contactless payments, the forthcoming 15 October increase to the contactless limit from the present £45 to £100 came as great news to me on a personal level when it was announced earlier this year - not least because I keep trying to pay for my weekly shop contactless-ly despite it generally exceeding this amount!

However, as a professional deputy and working to support vulnerable individuals and their families, the increase to contactless limits initially presented a conundrum. On the one hand, contactless is empowering - enabling many clients who struggle to recall their PIN (especially under pressure with a queue behind them) or may physically be unable to type in their PIN to have their own autonomy and involvement in their shopping.

However, that accessibility 'win' was balanced out with concern that with an increased £100 limit, the risk of fraud was significantly increased. 

Whilst many people can check their transactions immediately through online banking, and take urgent steps to let their banks know if there is an issue. For vulnerable and disabled clients, this might not be possible - or possible quickly enough - to address the mischief.

News that people will have control of their own contactless limits has therefore come as a great relief enabling individualised assessments of what is manageable, appropriate and balances individual autonomy with risk management appropriately for each individual.

This change in banking practice, and the ability to customise card settings, is in my view to be welcomed and embraced - with the empowerment of individuals able to truly be balanced against the risk of fraud. Progress for all now seems much more possible!