People have been urged to check their pockets and purses for old bank notes as paper versions of the currency are set to expire next month.
Paper £20 and £50 notes will soon no longer be legal tender, after having been gradually replaced with polymer notes since February 2020. The old notes will expire on September 30, leaving spenders just a few weeks to spend or deposit their paper cash.
The Bank of England has advised people to check now whether they are holding on to any of the old notes. Although the majority of notes have already been replaced with the new version, £6bn worth of paper £50 notes are currently still in circulation, the Manchester Evening News reports.
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The move follows the paper £5 note, which went out of circulation in May 2017, followed by the £10 note that was withdrawn in March 2018. Changing the banknotes to the new material makes them more durable, as well as more difficult to counterfeit, according to Bank of England’s Chief Cashier Sarah John.
September 30 will be the last day that spenders are able to use the old paper notes. The Bank of England advises that the quickest way to get rid of any old notes you have is to deposit them with your bank or local Post Office branch.
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