Six months left to spend paper £20 & £50 notes
Melanie May | 31 March 2022 | News
Paper £20 and £50 notes will cease to be legal tender from 30 September, leaving six months to spend them.
According to the Bank of England, there are approximately £7 billion worth of paper £20 and £10.5 billion worth of paper £50 notes still in circulation.
As they are returned to the Bank of England, these are being replaced with the new polymer £20 notes featuring J.M.W. Turner, and polymer £50 notes featuring Alan Turing. After 30 September 2022, the new polymer notes will be the only ones with legal tender status.
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Once the deadline has passed, people with a UK bank account will still be able to deposit withdrawn notes into their account. Some Post Offices may also accept withdrawn notes as payment for goods and services or as a deposit to an account accessed via them, and the Bank of England will continue to exchange all withdrawn notes.
Bank of Scotland, Royal Bank of Scotland and Clydesdale Bank will withdraw their paper £20 and £50 banknotes on the same date as the Bank of England.
The old paper £10 note, which featured Darwin, ceased to be legal tender back in 2018, with paper £5 notes leaving us the year before, in 2017.
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.