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Plans to expand contactless payments to 20 stations have been delayed by six months, a train operator has said.

Greater Anglia announced last month it would introduce a tap-in tap-out ticketing system at barriers across several stations in Essex and Hertfordshire, including Stansted Airport.

The system was due to be in place from 14 December, but Greater Anglia said on Wednesday it would now not happen until summer 2026, after issues were found and more work was needed.

Martin Beable, Greater Anglia’s managing director, apologised, but said it was “essential” the service was reliable from day one.

“We understand how frustrating it is when improvements like this are delayed, and I am very sorry for the disappointment this will cause some of our customer,” he said.

“It is essential, however, that contactless ticketing works reliably from day one.

“Our teams are working closely with our partners to complete this work as quickly as possible, and we remain committed to introducing contactless ticketing across these additional stations by summer 2026.”

Greater Anglia said for the system to operate correctly, its fares must be fully integrated into Transport for London’s fare system, and additional work was required to ensure this was seamless.

Stations affected by the delay include Billericay, Bishop’s Stortford, Chelmsford, Rayleigh, Sawbridgeworth.

The expansion of the contactless system is part of an £18.7m investment from the Department for Transport to “make rail fares and tickets more convenient, accessible and flexible”.

Rent rises for tenants in public sector housing will be directly linked to inflation in a bid to make the annual hikes more transparent, the Manx government has said.

The Department of Infrastructure (DoI) said the new method of calculation would see rents for more than 6,200 public sector properties rise in line with the September Consumer Price Index (CPI) figure from April next year.

The change would also see housing authorities given the discretion to add another 1% on top if felt necessary.

It marks a move away from the current system, which saw rent rises decided by the DoI after taking representations from the island’s 15 local authority housing boards.

The DoI said the changes would apply to tenants of its housing agencies and those in local authority homes after the previous rent calculator was deemed “not transparent enough”.

A scenario where all landlords chose to impose the extra 1% rate every year is considered unlikely, a department spokesman said.

The change, which has been mooted since 2022, aims to modernise the rent-setting process by aligning annual increases with the island’s economic conditions while improving financial predictability for landlords and tenants “on minimum or living wages”, he continued.

A new safeguard clause has been added to the calculation, allowing the DoI to set a lower rent rate if inflation spikes and rent increases were deemed “untenable”.

Housing Authorities would be required to notify both the DoI and tenants of their decision to impose any discretionary increases.

Tenants would receive formal notice of their new rent levels ahead of the 2026 financial year, the department spokesman added.