As climate change drives more frequent and unpredictable drought, scientists are studying resurrection plants to understand how their extreme survival traits could help agriculture become more resilient and sustainable.

What Are Resurrection Plants?

Resurrection plants are a small and exceptional group of flowering plants capable of surviving the loss of more than 90 per cent of their water content, remaining dormant for months before returning to full metabolic activity within hours of rehydration. Out of roughly 352,000 known flowering plant species, only around 240 are known to possess this ability, placing them firmly outside the evolutionary norm.

Where?

Most resurrection plants are found in regions already defined by extreme environmental stress, including southern Africa, parts of Australia, and South America. These landscapes are characterised by rocky slopes, shallow soils, and prolonged dry seasons broken by short, intense rainfall. In such conditions, resurrection plants have evolved to tolerate drought rather than avoid it, resuming growth with little long-term damage once water becomes available again.

How Do They Survive Extreme Dehydration?

At a cellular level, resurrection plants deploy a set of tightly coordinated survival mechanisms. For example, as water is lost, they replace it with sugars such as sucrose, transforming the internal contents of their cells into a glass-like, viscous state. This process, known as vitrification, dramatically slows chemical reactions and protects cellular structures from damage.

During dehydration, the plants also dismantle their photosynthetic machinery, including chloroplasts, effectively switching off photosynthesis to prevent light-induced stress. Protective proteins known as chaperones stabilise membranes and enzymes, helping the plant preserve tissue integrity through prolonged dryness and during the risky process of rehydration.

Similar strategies are seen in desiccation-tolerant organisms such as tardigrades and brine shrimp eggs, but resurrection plants are unique among flowering species in retaining this ability in fully developed leaves and stems.

Why Scientists Are Paying Attention To Them Now

One of the leading figures in resurrection plant research is Jill Farrant, professor of desiccation tolerance at the University of Cape Town. She has spent more than three decades studying how these plants preserve living tissue during extreme drying, describing the process in public lectures and academic commentary as “quite a miracle”.

The growing interest in this field is being driven by climate pressure. For example, droughts are becoming more frequent, more severe, and less predictable. According to the World Meteorological Organisation, drought has intensified globally over the past two decades, with agriculture consistently among the most affected sectors.

In the United States alone, drought, heat, and wildfires caused an estimated $16.6 billion in crop losses in 2023 (according to federal assessments). Also, climate models suggest that by the end of the century, large areas of sub-Saharan Africa, southern Europe, and South America may no longer be suitable for rain-fed agriculture.

The Limits Of Modern Crop Resilience

Modern crops have been bred primarily for yield, speed of growth, and uniformity, often at the expense of resilience. While many crop seeds can tolerate drying during storage, this desiccation tolerance is lost shortly after germination. Once drought strikes during active growth, damage is often permanent.

Carlos Messina, a maize scientist at the University of Florida, has highlighted this problem in published research and public commentary. He has said that maize plants may survive drought, but “when they rehydrate, they don’t go back to the same leaf architecture they had before, and the flow of CO₂ and water is all messed up”, leaving productivity compromised long after rainfall returns. Resurrection plants, by contrast, typically return to their original form and function.

Rethinking Drought Resistance In Crops

For decades, improving drought tolerance in crops has focused on avoidance strategies, such as deeper roots or faster flowering. These approaches help plants escape dry conditions but offer limited protection against sudden or prolonged water loss.

However, it seems that researchers are increasingly concerned about flash droughts, rapid dry periods that occur outside traditional seasonal patterns. For example, Timothy George, a soil scientist at the James Hutton Institute, has described this unpredictability as a defining feature of climate change, making avoidance strategies less reliable.

This has prompted a shift towards exploring whether crops can be engineered or bred to tolerate dehydration itself, rather than simply trying to outgrow it.

Genetic Pathways Without New Genes

Early attempts to transfer resurrection traits into crops seem to have mainly relied on transgenic genetic modification, i.e., inserting genes from unrelated species. While advances in CRISPR gene editing have made such work more precise, regulatory hurdles and public concern remain significant, particularly in Europe.

More recent research suggests that many of the genes involved in desiccation tolerance already exist within crop genomes, especially in seeds. Farrant and others argue that the challenge lies in reactivating these genetic programmes in mature plants, rather than introducing foreign DNA.

This work is increasingly supported by modern tools such as RNA sequencing, which allows scientists to track which genes are switched on and off during dehydration, and high-throughput plant phenotyping, which uses sensors and imaging systems to monitor stress responses in real time. Together, these technologies are helping researchers identify which genetic pathways matter most, and when they need to be activated.

Julia Buitink, a seed biologist at the French National Institute for Agriculture, Food, and Environment, has described this approach as technically feasible but biologically complex. In published research and interviews, she has stressed that activating stress-response genes often affects multiple plant systems at once, frequently reducing yield, which remains a critical concern for farmers.

Evidence From Targeted Genetic Studies

A notable proof-of-concept study emerged back in 2018, when researchers in Kenya and Sweden introduced a single gene from the resurrection plant Xerophyta viscosa into sweet potato. The gene, XvAld1, plays a role in antioxidant defence.

Under controlled drought conditions, the modified plants remained greener, lost fewer leaves, and continued growing longer than unmodified plants. Crucially, they showed no visible differences under normal watering conditions, suggesting drought protection could be activated without harming everyday growth.

The Role Of Microbiomes In Drought Survival

It’s worth noting here that genetics isn’t the only avenue being explored. For example, the plant root microbiome, or rhizosphere, has become a growing area of interest in drought research. Scientists are investigating whether microbial communities associated with resurrection plants help them tolerate extreme stress.

In fact, Farrant’s team has begun mapping the rhizosphere of Myrothamnus flabellifolia, a woody resurrection plant capable of surviving up to nine months without water. A 2024 study identified more than 900 distinct bacterial and fungal groups associated with its roots, raising the possibility that some drought tolerance traits could be transferred via microbial partnerships rather than genetic modification.

Teff And Its Resurrection Plant Relative

Another promising research pathway involves teff, a cereal grown for thousands of years in Ethiopia. Teff is naturally drought tolerant and has a close evolutionary relative, Eragrostis nindensis, which is itself a resurrection plant.

Comparative studies suggest that differences in sunlight protection, including antioxidant production and surface pigments that act like natural sun protection, may explain why one species survives extreme drought while the other does not. Understanding which traits were lost or silenced during domestication could inform future breeding or gene regulation strategies.

A Broader Sustainability Question

It seems that resurrection plants are no longer viewed as botanical curiosities, but more as representing a living archive of survival strategies largely set aside during the twentieth century’s drive for high-yield agriculture. Therefore, as climate pressures intensify, researchers are now increasingly questioning whether resilience, even at the cost of some productivity, may become essential for sustaining food systems in an increasingly unpredictable world.

What Does This Mean For Your Organisation?

The recent research around resurrection plants seems to point to a clear recalibration in how drought resilience is being approached, moving away from simply trying to avoid water stress and towards learning how plants can survive it without lasting damage. Rather than offering a single technological fix, this body of work highlights a combination of genetics, gene regulation, advanced sensing technologies, and microbiome science that together could reshape how crops cope with increasingly erratic conditions.

For farmers and agricultural supply chains, this matters because climate volatility is no longer a distant risk but a present operational challenge. Technologies such as RNA sequencing and real-time plant phenotyping are already helping researchers identify which traits genuinely improve recovery after drought, rather than just short-term survival. Over time, that knowledge could inform breeding programmes that prioritise stability and recovery, particularly in regions where rainfall can no longer be relied upon.

There are also some clear implications for UK businesses. For example, food producers, processors, and retailers are increasingly exposed to climate-driven supply disruption, even when crops are grown overseas. More resilient crop varieties could help stabilise yields, reduce price volatility, and support long-term procurement planning. Agri-technology firms, seed developers, and data-driven farming platforms also stand to benefit as demand grows for tools that monitor plant stress, optimise inputs, and support more resilient production systems.

At the same time, the research highlights the trade-offs involved. For example, improving resilience can come at the cost of yield, and regulatory barriers around genetic technologies remain significant, particularly in Europe. For policymakers, investors, and sustainability leaders, the challenge will be balancing innovation with public trust, food affordability, and environmental responsibility.

Taken together, resurrection plants offer less of a blueprint and more of a reference point. They show that extreme resilience is biologically possible, and that modern technology is making it easier to understand how it works. Whether that knowledge can be translated into scalable, acceptable, and economically viable solutions will shape not just future agriculture, but the resilience of food systems that UK businesses and consumers ultimately depend on.

OpenAI have recently made it easier than ever to find the best deal online for a product you’re after. By adding ‘Shopping Research’ to ChatGPT’s menu, you can now sit back and take the time and sweat out of looking for the bargains, as this video explains.

[Note – To Watch This Video without glitches/interruptions, It may be best to download it first]

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One in three adults in the UK have used artificial intelligence (AI) for companionship, emotional support or social interaction, according to new research from a government-backed AI safety body, a finding that takes on added significance during the Christmas and New Year period when loneliness and mental health pressures often peak.

Frontier AI Trends

The finding comes from the first Frontier AI Trends Report published by the AI Security Institute, a body established in 2023 to help the UK government understand the risks, capabilities and societal impacts of advanced AI systems. The report draws on two years of evaluations of more than 30 frontier AI models and combines technical testing with research into how people are actually using these systems in everyday life.

Emotional Impact

While much of the report focuses on national security issues such as cyber capabilities, safeguards and the risk of loss of human control, it also highlights what AISI describes as “early signs of emotional impact on users”. One of the clearest and most surprising indicators of this is how widely conversational AI is already being used for emotional and social purposes.

How Many People Are Using AI For Emotional Support?

The AISI report highlights how “over a third of UK citizens have used AI for emotional support or social interaction”. AISI explains that this figure was uncovered after it carried out a census-representative survey of 2,028 UK adults. The results showed that 33 per cent had used AI models for emotional support, companionship or social interaction in the past year. Also, it seems that usage was not confined to occasional curiosity. For example, 8 per cent of respondents said they used AI for these purposes weekly, while 4 per cent said they did so daily.

Use A Mix of AI

The report also notes that people were not relying solely on specialist “AI companion” products. In fact, respondents reported using a mix of general-purpose chatbots and voice assistants, suggesting that emotional and social use is emerging as a mainstream behaviour linked to widely available consumer AI tools.

It should be noted here that AISI isn’t presenting these stats as proof of widespread harm. Instead, it frames the figures as an early signal that deserves attention as AI systems become more capable, more persuasive and more deeply woven into everyday routines.

What Happens When AI Companions Go Offline?

To move beyond self-reported survey data, AISI also examined behaviour in a large online community focused on AI companions. Researchers analysed activity from more than two million Reddit users and paid particular attention to what happened when AI services experienced outages.

According to the report, chatbot outages triggered “significant spikes in negative posts”. In one example, posting volumes increased to more than 30 times the average number of posts per hour. During these periods, many users described what AISI calls “symptoms of withdrawal”, including anxiety, low mood, disrupted sleep and neglect of normal responsibilities.

Again, AISI is being careful not to over-interpret these findings and doesn’t seem to be suggesting that most users are dependent on AI systems or that emotional reliance is inevitable. Instead, its analysis can be used as evidence that some users can form emotional attachments or routines around conversational AI, particularly when it acts as an always-available, non-judgemental listener.

Christmas And New Year

The timing of these findings is particularly relevant during Christmas and the New Year, when loneliness, grief and isolation often intensify across the UK. For example, seasonal pressures can amplify the reasons people turn to conversational technology in the first place.

Charities have long warned that Christmas can be one of the loneliest times of the year. Shorter days, cold weather, disrupted routines and the expectation of celebration can all heighten feelings of exclusion or loss. For people who are bereaved, estranged from family, living alone or struggling financially, the festive period can magnify existing emotional strain.

Age UK has repeatedly highlighted the scale of seasonal loneliness among older people, saying that one million feel more isolated at Christmas than at any other time of year. Hundreds of thousands will spend Christmas Day without seeing or speaking to anyone, while millions eat dinner alone. Although AISI’s data focuses on adults of all ages, the festive period provides a clear context in which an always-available AI chatbot may feel like a lifeline rather than a novelty.

Mental health charities also point out that access to support can become more difficult over Christmas and New Year. For example, many services run reduced hours, GP appointments are harder to secure, and waiting lists do not pause just because it is the festive season. For people already waiting weeks or months for help, the gap can feel even wider.

It’s easy to see, therefore, why in that context, AI systems that respond instantly, at any hour, may appear particularly attractive. AISI’s finding that 4 per cent of UK adults use AI for emotional purposes daily suggests that for some people, these tools are already filling gaps that become more visible during holiday periods.

The Youth Mental Health Context In The UK

The adult data from AISI becomes more striking when placed alongside evidence about young people’s mental health and their use of online support tools.

For example, research from the Youth Endowment Fund paints quite a stark picture of teenage mental health in England and Wales. In its Children, Violence and Vulnerability 2025 report, YEF says: “The scale of poor mental health among teenagers is alarming.”

Using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, a standard 25-item screening tool, YEF found that more than one in four 13–17-year-olds reported high or very high levels of mental health difficulties. YEF says this is equivalent to nearly one million teenage children struggling with their well-being.

Complex and Unmet Needs

Behind this figure lie complex and often unmet needs. For example, a quarter of teenagers reported having a diagnosed mental health or neurodevelopmental condition, such as depression or ADHD. A further 21 per cent suspected they had a condition but had not been formally diagnosed, suggesting many young people are experiencing difficulties without recognition or support.

YEF also reports high levels of distress. Fourteen per cent of teenagers said they had deliberately harmed themselves in the past year, while 12 per cent said they had thought about ending their life. In total, almost one in five teenagers, around 710,000 young people, had self-harmed or experienced suicidal thoughts.

Why Many Young People Are Turning Online

YEF’s research shows that most teenagers with mental health difficulties do talk to someone they trust, usually a parent or friend, but the problem arises when it comes to professional support.

YEF’s research found that more than half of teenagers with a diagnosed mental health condition were receiving no support at all. Also, among those not receiving help, around half were on a waiting list and others were neither receiving treatment nor expecting to receive it.

With services stretched and waiting times long, YEF says it is, therefore, unsurprising that young people are increasingly turning online, e.g., to AI chatbots. In fact, more than half of all teenagers reported using some form of online mental health support in the past year, rising to two-thirds among those with the highest levels of difficulty.

AI Commonly Used

One of the most striking YEF findings is how common AI chatbot use already is. YEF reports that a quarter of all teenage children had turned to AI chatbots for help, making them more widely used than traditional mental health websites or telephone helplines.

Violence

This pattern is even stronger among teenagers affected by serious violence. For example, the YEF found that nine out of ten young people who had perpetrated serious violence said they had sought advice or help online, which is nearly twice the rate of those with no experience of violence.

Festive Pressures And Always-On Technology

Christmas and New Year can be especially challenging for teenagers as well as adults. For example, school routines are disrupted, family tensions can rise, and support services may be harder to reach. For young people already dealing with anxiety, grief or trauma, the festive period can intensify feelings of isolation.

When combined with YEF’s findings about access gaps, this seasonal pressure helps explain why AI chatbots may become a go-to source of support. Unlike helplines or appointments, they do not close for bank holidays, require no waiting, and carry no perceived judgement.

AISI’s report does not suggest that AI should replace human support. Instead, it highlights a reality that becomes particularly visible at Christmas, i.e., conversational AI is already playing an emotional role in people’s lives, not because it was designed as therapy, but because other forms of connection and support are often unavailable when they are needed most.

A Trend With Wider Implications

AISI’s emotional support findings actually sit alongside its broader warnings about rapidly advancing AI capabilities and uneven safeguards. The institute says AI performance is improving quickly across multiple domains, while protections remain inconsistent.

In that context, the growing emotional role of AI raises some difficult questions. As systems become more persuasive and more human-like in conversation, understanding how people use them during periods of heightened vulnerability, e.g., Christmas and New Year, is becoming increasingly important.

Although neither AISI nor YEF presents AI as the root cause of loneliness or poor mental health, both sets of research seem to point to structural issues such as isolation, violence exposure, long waiting lists and gaps in support. The festive season simply brings those pressures into sharper focus, at the same time as AI tools are more accessible than ever.

Looking at this research, the evidence may show that now, for a growing number of people in the UK, AI may be less of a productivity tool or a novelty, and more a part of how they cope, reflect and seek connection.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

This evidence seems to highlight a gap between emotional need and available human support, with AI increasingly stepping into that space by default rather than by design. Neither the AI Security Institute nor the Youth Endowment Fund suggests that conversational AI is a substitute for professional care or human connection. What their findings do show, however, is that when support is slow, fragmented or unavailable, people will turn to tools that are immediate, private and always on, especially during periods like Christmas and New Year when loneliness and pressure intensify.

For UK businesses, this has practical implications that go beyond technology policy. For example, employers are already grappling with rising mental health needs, winter absenteeism and the wellbeing impact of long waiting lists for NHS and community support. If staff are increasingly relying on AI tools for emotional reassurance, that signals unmet need rather than a tech trend to ignore. Organisations that take mental health seriously may now need to think harder about access to support, signposting, and how seasonal pressures affect staff, customers and communities alike.

For policymakers, regulators, educators and technology developers, the challenge is really achieving the right balance. AI is clearly providing something people value, particularly accessibility and responsiveness. However, the risk lies in leaving that role unexamined as systems become more persuasive and more embedded in daily life. As this research shows, the emotional use of AI is no longer hypothetical, but is already happening at scale, shaped by wider social pressures that Christmas simply makes harder to ignore.

Many MSPs have been reporting that Windows 11 updates are increasingly causing upgrade failures, BitLocker lockouts and unexpected behaviour, and here we look at what may be going wrong, why it is happening now, and what can realistically be done to prevent it.

The Pattern Many MSPs Are Seeing on the Ground

It has been reported across organisations supported by MSPs that Windows 11 feature updates and security patches are failing in ways that feel inconsistent, hard to predict and difficult to explain. In practical terms, this has included devices that meet Microsoft’s published requirements not receiving updates at all, updates failing part way through installation, and systems rebooting directly into BitLocker recovery screens.

What has made this particularly frustrating is that many of the affected machines appear otherwise healthy. For example, disk space is available, policies are applied correctly, and in some cases manual upgrades succeed. At scale, however, manual intervention doesn’t translate into a sustainable approach, particularly when large numbers of devices behave differently. As a result, for MSPs, Windows updates are increasingly becoming a visible support issue rather than a background maintenance task.

Issues Acknowledged

This experience appears to align with wider reporting beyond MSP communities. For example, back in November this year (2025), Microsoft acknowledged issues with specific Windows 11 security updates that caused devices to enter BitLocker recovery mode after installation. These incidents affected supported business versions of Windows 11 and prompted follow-up guidance and remediation updates.

Updates That Refuse to Install or Fail Without Warning

One of the most frequently reported problems is Windows 11 feature updates either not being offered to eligible devices or failing without presenting a clear error message.

A recurring technical factor appears to be the EFI system partition (a small hidden disk area that helps Windows start). Many devices originally deployed with Windows 10 were created with EFI partitions of around 100 MB. While this was sufficient under earlier Windows servicing models, it is increasingly inadequate for modern recovery and update processes.

For many now it seems that when Windows attempts to stage a feature update and can’t write the required boot or recovery components to the EFI partition, the update may fail silently or be blocked entirely. Windows Update does not always highlight this limitation clearly, so investigation often focuses on policies, drivers or hardware compatibility, when the underlying cause is actually related to disk layout and boot configuration.

It’s been reported that this lack of visibility has added complexity to diagnosing update failures, particularly in mixed hardware environments.

Why BitLocker Is So Often Involved

BitLocker, a built in Windows tool that encrypts a device’s data to protect it if lost or stolen, has featured prominently in many reported update issues, not because encryption itself is malfunctioning, but because of how closely it is now integrated into the Windows boot process.

For example, many Windows 11 devices ship with BitLocker or device encryption enabled by default, especially where users sign in using Microsoft or Entra ID accounts during setup. While this improves baseline data protection, it also means that updates interact directly with encrypted boot components.

In mid November, Microsoft confirmed that certain Windows 11 security updates could trigger BitLocker recovery prompts after installation, even when no obvious configuration changes had been made. Users were presented with requests for 48 digit recovery keys, leading to a noticeable increase in support calls where keys were not immediately available.

In some reported cases, recovery environments were also affected, with peripherals such as USB keyboards and mice not responding at the recovery prompt. Microsoft subsequently issued emergency fixes to restore recovery environment functionality, underlining the seriousness of the issue.

Windows 11 Upgrades and the End of Windows 10 Support

These update problems are occurring against the backdrop of a wider transition to Windows 11. Windows 10 reached the end of mainstream support in late 2025, prompting many organisations to accelerate upgrade plans. While extended security updates remain available in limited scenarios, Microsoft has positioned Windows 11 as the primary supported desktop platform going forward.

As a result, businesses that delayed upgrading are now moving in larger numbers, often across device fleets that include both new and older hardware. This has increased the volume of feature updates being deployed and exposed edge cases that may not have appeared as frequently during earlier, more gradual upgrade cycles.

Windows 11 itself has also followed a faster cadence of servicing updates, particularly during the rollout of later builds in 2025. While this approach enables quicker responses to security issues, it also increases the likelihood that update related problems will surface in real world environments before they are fully resolved.

Why These Issues Are Becoming More Common

These problems are becoming more common due to a combination of increased platform complexity, faster update cycles and stronger default security settings within Windows 11. For example:

– Growing platform complexity. Windows 11 is required to operate securely across a broad range of hardware, firmware versions and security configurations. Each update must account for UEFI behaviour (how the system firmware controls the boot process), TPM states (the status of the security chip that stores encryption keys), Secure Boot, encryption, device drivers and third party security software, all interacting simultaneously. As default security settings have been strengthened, the tolerance for inconsistency has narrowed. Relatively small changes in update handling can have disproportionately large effects once deployed at scale.

– Faster update cycles. Microsoft now releases updates more frequently than in previous Windows generations. While this improves responsiveness to vulnerabilities, it reduces the amount of time updates spend being exercised across the full range of business configurations before wide deployment. MSPs often encounter these edge cases early because they support diverse environments rather than uniform device fleets.

– Encryption as a default state. With encryption now widely enabled by default, the consequences of update failures have changed. When issues occur during boot related updates, devices may refuse to start without recovery credentials rather than reverting automatically. This has raised the operational impact of update failures, even where the underlying issue is relatively contained.

What Has Helped Reduce the Impact

Across wider industry reporting and real world experience, several patterns have now emerged around which measures have helped limit disruption when Windows 11 update issues occur.

For example, testing feature updates and major security patches on a small number of representative devices has helped surface issues early. Staged deployment, rather than immediate broad rollout, has allowed problems to be identified before they affect larger user groups.

Centralised storage of BitLocker recovery keys has also proven critical where recovery prompts occur, reducing downtime and support escalation. In environments where EFI partition limitations are known, addressing these during rebuilds or hardware refresh cycles has reduced repeated update failures.

Alongside these technical measures, clearer explanations of how modern Windows updates interact with security features and boot environments have become more important as businesses try to understand whether issues are isolated incidents or part of wider platform behaviour.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

It seems that recently reported Windows 11 update problems are not just the result of a single fault or a sudden drop in quality, but the outcome of a more complex platform colliding with faster release cycles and a large, overdue upgrade push away from Windows 10. For MSPs, this has changed the nature of updates from something that could largely run in the background into an operational risk that needs closer attention, clearer communication and better preparation. For Microsoft and hardware vendors, it highlights how small changes at the boot or recovery level can have wide consequences once deployed at scale.

For UK businesses, the practical takeaway is that disruption linked to updates does not automatically indicate neglect or mismanagement. For example, many of the issues now being seen are tied to how modern Windows versions handle encryption, recovery environments and legacy device layouts during upgrades. Understanding that context matters, particularly as more organisations complete their move to Windows 11 and rely on it as their primary supported platform.

When update problems do arise, speaking to your IT support provider is often the safest and most effective first step. This is because they are best placed to confirm whether an issue is local or part of a wider pattern, to recover access without risking data, and to put measures in place that reduce the chance of repeat disruption. As Windows continues to evolve, that relationship between businesses, their IT support companies, and the platform itself is becoming more important, not less.

The UK’s £100 contactless card payment limit is set to be lifted from March 2026, after the financial regulator confirmed it will remove the fixed cap and give banks greater freedom to decide how contactless payments are handled.

Not Forced To Do It Immediately

The change, announced by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), does not force banks to raise limits immediately, but opens the door for higher or unlimited contactless payments where firms believe the fraud risk is low.

How Contactless Limits Currently Work

Under existing rules, shoppers using a physical debit or credit card can make a single contactless payment of up to £100 without entering their four digit PIN. There are also cumulative controls in place, meaning customers are typically asked to verify with a PIN after five contactless transactions or once total spending reaches around £300. These safeguards are designed to limit losses if a card is lost or stolen, while still allowing fast payments for everyday purchases.

Mobile Payments Different

Mobile payments work differently. For example, digital wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay do not have a fixed transaction limit, because payments are authenticated using device security such as fingerprint scanning or facial recognition. That distinction has become more noticeable as smartphone payments have grown in popularity.

What Will Change From March 2026?

From March 2026, the FCA will remove the regulatory requirement that sets a single national £100 limit on contactless card payments.

Instead, banks and payment providers with strong fraud controls will be allowed to set their own limits, including the option of having no fixed limit at all. Firms are also being encouraged to give customers more control, such as allowing them to choose their own contactless limit or turn contactless payments off entirely.

The FCA claims that this is about flexibility rather than mandating change. For example, providers will decide if and when they adjust limits, and many are expected to keep the current £100 cap for the foreseeable future.

Why The Change?

The regulator’s argument is that contactless payments have become the default way many people pay, and rigid limits can become less practical over time.

Contactless usage in the UK is now extremely high. For example, research cited by the FCA, carried out by Barclays, found that almost 95 percent of all eligible in store card transactions were contactless in 2024. Against that backdrop, the FCA believes fixed rules set several years ago risk becoming outdated as prices rise and payment technology improves. As David Geale, executive director of payments and digital finance at the FCA, says: “Contactless is people’s favoured way to pay. We want to make sure our rules provide flexibility for the future, and choice for both firms and consumers.”

The FCA has also linked the move to its wider work on supporting economic growth and prioritising digital solutions, describing the change as part of a broader programme of regulatory reform.

Consumer Choice

A key part of the FCA’s announcement is the emphasis on customer control. For example, rather than simply raising limits across the board, the regulator is encouraging banks to allow people to decide what works for them. Many high street banks already let customers set their own contactless limits or disable the feature entirely through mobile banking apps.

This means that someone concerned about fraud could switch contactless off, while someone making frequent higher value purchases could choose a higher personal limit to avoid repeated PIN prompts. Others may decide to keep tighter controls in place to help manage spending.

Any provider that changes its approach will be required, under the FCA’s Consumer Duty rules, to communicate those changes clearly and support good customer outcomes.

Fraud Protection And Reimbursement Rules

Concerns about fraud sit at the heart of the debate around higher contactless limits. The obvious fear is that if a card is stolen, a criminal could spend more before the cardholder realises and cancels it.

The FCA has stressed that existing consumer protections remain unchanged. Banks and payment firms must reimburse customers for unauthorised contactless fraud, such as spending on a lost or stolen card, unless there is evidence of gross negligence or complicity.

The regulator also believes that removing a blunt national cap will push firms to invest more in sophisticated fraud detection rather than relying on fixed limits alone.

In its press release, the FCA said the greater flexibility “will incentivise firms to step up their fraud prevention, giving consumers greater protection and peace of mind”.

How Big A Problem Is Contactless Fraud?

Industry data suggests contactless fraud rates are relatively low compared with other forms of card fraud. For example, figures published by UK Finance, which represents the UK banking sector, show that contactless fraud amounted to around 1.2p for every £100 spent using contactless cards. While any fraud is significant in absolute terms, this rate is lower than for card fraud overall.

The FCA has acknowledged that raising limits could increase potential losses if controls are not robust. In modelling shared during earlier discussions, it warned that higher limits could drive increased fraud if not matched with stronger monitoring, alerts, and transaction analysis.

That risk is one reason the regulator says only firms with strong fraud controls should take advantage of the new flexibility.

Why Most People May Not See Immediate Change

Despite the headline change, many customers may notice little difference in the short term. This is because, based on feedback from banks and payment service providers, the FCA says most firms are likely to maintain their existing contactless limits for now, even after the rules change in March 2026. Not only is a consistent national limit simple for customers to understand, but sudden changes could create confusion or anxiety around fraud. For banks, there are also operational considerations, including customer support, dispute handling, and the need to ensure monitoring systems can cope with higher value transactions.

How The £100 Limit Came About

The UK’s contactless limit has never been static. When contactless cards were introduced, back in 2007, the maximum transaction value was just £10. That figure rose gradually over time, reflecting growing trust in the technology and improved security.

The limit reached £30 by 2015, before increasing more rapidly during the Covid pandemic, when contactless payments were promoted as a hygienic alternative to cash. It rose to £45 in 2020 and then to £100 in October 2021.

The FCA’s latest move marks a move away from a single nationally defined figure, towards a more flexible, provider led model.

Concerns

It’s worth noting here, however, that the regulator has accepted that this is not a change driven by strong consumer demand. For example, in its own survey work during consultation, a large majority of consumers said they did not want the £100 limit changed.

Critics have also raised concerns beyond fraud. For example, some academics argue that reducing friction at the point of payment can make it easier to overspend, particularly on credit cards where people are using borrowed money. Financial abuse charities have also warned that easier spending could be misused in controlling relationships, especially where an abuser has access to a card or monitors transactions online.

Those concerns sit alongside broader debates about the move away from cash, which remains important for some vulnerable groups.

What Businesses And Retailers Think

Parts of the retail and hospitality sector have welcomed the prospect of greater flexibility, arguing that faster payments can improve customer experience and reduce queues. For example, Kate Nicholls, chair of UKHospitality, said: “Making life easier for consumers is a positive for any hospitality and high street business, and I’m pleased the FCA is bringing forward this change.”

She added, “Contactless has increasingly become the preferred payment method of choice for many people and lifting the limit can mean quicker and easier experiences for consumers. While many people still prefer to use cash or chip and PIN, this change adds much needed flexibility for providers and consumers.”

For retailers, much is likely to depend on how consistently banks apply the new freedom, and how clearly changes are explained to customers at the point of payment.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

What the FCA has actually done is remove a fixed rule rather than impose a new one. The £100 limit is not being abolished overnight, and most people are unlikely to see any immediate difference at the till. Instead, the regulator is handing responsibility back to banks and payment firms, with the expectation that flexibility is matched by stronger fraud controls and clearer communication with customers.

For consumers, the impact will depend largely on how their own bank responds. Some may eventually be offered higher limits or more personalised controls, while others may see no change at all. The emphasis on customer choice suggests that people concerned about fraud, overspending, or personal safety should retain meaningful ways to limit or disable contactless payments if they wish.

For UK businesses, particularly retailers and hospitality venues, the change has the potential to reduce friction at checkout and speed up higher value transactions over time. That could improve customer flow and reduce queueing, but only if changes are applied consistently and explained clearly. For example, a patchwork of different limits across banks could create short term confusion for staff and customers alike.

Banks and payment providers now carry greater responsibility and, if they choose to raise or remove limits, they will need to demonstrate that fraud monitoring, alerts, and reimbursement processes are robust enough to cope with higher risk. The FCA has been clear that flexibility is conditional, not automatic, and firms will be judged on outcomes rather than intent.

More broadly, the move reflects a shift in how the UK approaches everyday payments. As digital and contactless methods dominate, regulation is moving away from fixed national thresholds towards adaptive controls shaped by technology, behaviour, and risk. Whether that balance holds will depend on how carefully the next phase is handled by all sides involved.