The amount British consumers have spent using their contactless cards has increased 560% in the last 12 months, research from MasterCard has revealed — a more than sixfold year-on-year growth and up from a 373% increase in the year to July 2014.

The number of contactless card transactions made with MasterCard has risen 457% since last summer, the findings reveal, and the average contactless purchase made by contactless card holders now stands at £7.29, up from the £4.52 average in 2012 — the year in which the contactless limit was raised to £20.

Each year since 2012 individual cardholders have, on average, doubled the number of times they tap to pay, the payment network adds, “indicating more confidence among consumers and ever increasing acceptance of contactless by retailers”.

“The pace of growth we are seeing in contactless is getting ever faster as we rely less and less on cash,” says Mark Barnett, president of MasterCard UK & Ireland. “Consumers enjoy the speed and convenience of tapping to pay.

“We expect this upward trend to persist with consumers continuing to migrate to contactless card payments and increasingly to mobile payments as we work with partners such as Apple to enable more convenient ways to pay.”

The contactless limit of £20 is set to increase to £30 across the UK on September 1.

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