From 1 October all bank notes will be polymer. The £5 note was the first to change from paper to polymer and was introduced in September 2016, featuring Sir Winston Churchill. The paper version was withdrawn from circulation in May 2017.
This was followed by the £10 note, which shows Jane Austen being introduced later in the same year the paper £5 notes were withdrawn (September 2017). The paper counterpart stopped being legal tender in March 2018.
Note history
After 30 September, customers will no longer be able to pay in pubs with paper £20 and £50 notes however, many banks will accept them as deposits as will some Post Offices.
The polymer £20 note entered circulation in February 2022, which was also when the old was began to be phased out, and features English Romantic artist JMW Turner.
The paper £50 note started being withdrawn from circulation in June last year at the same time the new one was introduced and has mathematician and scientist Alan Turing on it.
Earlier this year (June), the Bank of England urged the public to use the paper £20 and £50 notes ahead of the 30 September deadline – date which is exactly one year after the polymer £50 note was released.
Important development
All the polymer notes have a variety of security features with the key two being a hologram that changes image and see-through windows. Find out more about the £20 note here.
Previously, Bank of England chief cashier Sarah John said: “Changing our bank notes from paper to polymer over recent years has been an important development because it make them more difficult to counterfeit and means they are more durable.”
The Bank of England also previously said current bank notes featuring the image of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II continue to be legal tender and it will make a further announcement on this shortly.