From September 30, paper bank notes will lose their legal tender status in an attempt to crack down on fake money. With more than £19 billion worth of paper bank notes still in circulation, the £20 and £50 notes are set to be withdrawn in just over six months.
The Bank of England has said it will continue to swap old notes for their face value, but warned households to use up the 775 million paper bank notes before the autumn deadline or face having them rejected in stores. According to the Royal Mint there are £105 million old style pound coins in circulation five years after losing their legal tender status.
The counterfeit proof five-sided £1 coin replaced the old round version on October 15, 2017. Of the 1.6 billion old-style coins returned, about 1.45 million were discovered to be counterfeits.
The old pound coins can still be deposited at high street banks, but cannot be spent in shops. Since June 23, 2021 the entire collection of currently printed banknotes is made of plastic, with the polymer £50 note featuring Alan Turing completing the collection, reports The Mirror.
A spokeswoman explained that "all genuine Bank of England banknotes that have been withdrawn from circulation retain their face value for all time". People can also post old notes to the bank in Threadneedle Street, in the City of London, to be paid into a bank account, by cheque or, "if you live in the UK and your exchange is worth less than £50", swapped for new-style polymer ones.
If you have a UK bank account, the Bank of England said the simplest and quickest way to exchange paper £20 and £50 notes "will normally be to deposit them with your bank". Former Bank of England governor Mark Carney – who spearheaded their introduction – said: "Polymer notes are safer than paper notes and last more than twice as long."
'Plastic' banknotes are not without issues though.
Some security features on early polymer notes, including the Queen’s face, could be rubbed off with pencil erasers, and notes can shrink to a quarter of their size if ironed while inside a pocket.
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