Today is the last day you can spend the Bank of England's old paper £20 and £50 notes before they stop being legal tender.
The notes are being replaced with new polymer versions that are more durable than the papers notes and will feature different historical figures. Paper £5 and £10 notes were replaced in the same way in 2016 and 2017 respectively.
The Post Office said this week it was preparing for a “last moment” rush in customers depositing paper £20 and £50 banknotes in its branches. As of June 2022, an estimated 163 million £50 notes and some 314 million £20 notes are still in people's purses and wallets.
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The paper £20 banknotes featuring economist Adam Smith and the £50 notes featuring entrepreneur Matthew Boulton and engineer James Watt have gradually been replaced with either polymer £20 notes featuring artist JMW Turner, or polymer £50 notes featuring Bletchley Park codebreaker Alan Turing.
After today, you won't be able to spend paper notes in shops or to pay businesses, but you will still be able to deposit paper notes at their Post Office and many UK banks will also accept withdrawn notes as deposits from customers. The Post Office said earlier this week that £1.2 billion of paper £20 and £50 banknotes had already been deposited at its 11,500 branches.
New banknotes featuring King Charles III are expected to enter circulation by mid-2024 and his portrait will appear on existing designs of all four denominations of banknote – £5, £10, £20 and £50. In line with guidance from the Royal Household to minimise the environmental and financial impact of the change of monarch, existing stocks of notes featuring the Queen will continue to be issued into circulation, the Bank of England said earlier this week.
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