Irish people who still have pound notes lying around their homes are being warned to cash them in before they become invalid for use.
Paper banknotes are being ditched altogether in 2022 in the UK and will be replaced with a polymer alternative that lasts longer.
Paper £10 and £5 banknotes have already been withdrawn, but £20 and £50 notes will only become invalid for use from September 30, 2022.
The change is a bid to eliminate counterfeit money that is in circulation in the form of paper banknotes.
According to the Bank of England, the polymer £50 note contains advanced security features, “completing the most secure set of Bank of England polymer banknotes in history.”
Speaking about the incoming changes, Bank of England’s Chief Cashier Sarah John said: “The polymer £50 note is the most secure Bank of England banknote yet, and the features of the note make it very difficult to counterfeit.
“All of our polymer banknotes can be checked by looking for two key security features: a hologram which changes image; and see-through windows.
“So if you can check one denomination of banknote, you can check them all.
“The new £50 notes, like the polymer £10 and £20 notes, contain a tactile feature to help vision-impaired people identify the denomination.”
There are reportedly more than £19 billion worth of paper banknotes still in circulation with the cut-off date approaching in just six months.
Banks will continue to swap old notes for their exchange value in Ireland, but households are being warned once we reach the autumn deadline they will be worth nothing on the high street.
The polymer £50 note featuring the portrait of Alan Turing entered circulation on 23 June 2021, meaning the Bank's entire collection of new banknotes is made of plastic.
You 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.
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