Bank note warning as paper £20 and £50 deadline approaches

TIME is running out to spend old bank notes which are due to go out of circulation. Paper £20 and £50 notes are being replaced by new versions made of plastic. At the moment you can use either paper or plastic versions of both the £20 and £50 bank note. But that will soon change […]

TIME is running out to spend old bank notes which are due to go out of circulation.

Paper £20 and £50 notes are being replaced by new versions made of plastic.

Getty

Old £20 and £50 notes are made of paper and are being replaced by plastic versions[/caption]

At the moment you can use either paper or plastic versions of both the £20 and £50 bank note.

But that will soon change as old paper ones will go out of circulation before the end of the year.

Old paper £10 and £5 notes have already been replaced by newer ones made of polymer, which are more secure.

The new notes feature Churchill on the fiver and Jane Austen on the £10 and are made of machine washable plastic rather than paper.

Old £10 notes made of paper went out of circulation back in 2018, and the old £5 the year before.

Now shoppers have until September 31 to spend or bank the paper £20 and £50 notes.

That’s when they will go officially go out of circulation the Bank of England has said.

Old £20s shows the face of economist Adam Smith.

The new polymer £20 first launched in 2020 and it features a picture of the artist JMW Turner.

Old £50s have Matthew Boulton and James Watt on the opposite side to the Queen.

A new polymer £50 note entered circulation in 2021 and features Alan Turing.

Money Saving Expert (MSE) points out that you can check which note is old using the pictures of the paper £20 and £50 notes on the Bank of England website.

A whopping 360million old paper £20 notes are still in circulation and there are 209million £50 notes still in circulation, recent figures show.

That means there’s just months left to spend millions of notes or deposit them in a bank account before the autumn deadline.

But the good news is you won’t lose out if you still find one in your purse or pocket after September 30, 2022.

What do I do with old £20 and £50 bank notes?

You won’t be able to spend old paper £20 and £50 notes after September 30 like you normally would.

You will have to swap the money for the equivalent new note, which you can do at the Post Office, or directly at the Bank of England.

If you do it at the Post Office, you’ll have to deposit the cash into your bank account first and then withdraw the amount, rather than a direct note-for-note swap.

The Post Office offers this everyday banking service for most banks, but you can find the full list here.

You can exchange any withdrawn notes directly with the Bank of England.

You can do this by post or in person with a cashier at the central bank located on Threadneedle Street in London.

For either exchange, you’ll need your ID and there are other requirements too, such as a form to complete.

You can find the full guidance on the Bank of England’s website.

You could try swapping them at your local bank, but they are not obliged to give you a fresh new note.

According to MSE,  Barclays, Halifax, Lloyds, Nationwide, NatWest and Santander all say you can deposit old notes and coins into accounts.

The same goes for any other old notes and coins you have knocking about that are no longer legal tender, like £10 notes and £1 coins.