The Bank of England often takes notes and coins out of circulation to replace them with newer forms of the currency.
Most recently this saw the end of paper £20 and £50 notes as legal tender on September 30, 2022. Like other English notes, they were replaced by polymer banknotes in 2020 and 2021 respectively, leading the Bank of England to bring their paper versions to an end.
English currency has also seen changes with the ascension of King Charles III to the throne. The first coinage featuring the new monarch's head entered circulation in December.
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Notes featuring the King's portrait are expected to enter circulation by mid-2024. At that point, current banknotes featuring the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II will continue to be legal tender and will only be removed from circulation once they become worn or damaged - they will co-circulate with those featuring King Charles III.
However, paper bank notes and the old-style £1 coins are not legal tender any more and cannot be spent. Fortunately, there are a number of ways you can swap old notes for new ones or deposit them into your account.
Some Post Office branches
The Post Office exchanges old bank notes for new ones. You can exchange paper banknotes at no cost in its participating branches, up to a maximum of £300 in any two-year period.
The bank notes it currently accepts are the £5 note which ceased to be legal tender on May 5, 2017, the £10 note which expired on March 1, 2018, the £20 and £50 note which ceased to be legal tender on September 30, 2022. You must bring photo ID with you to perform the exchange.
To find a participating branch, click here. According to the Bank of England, the Post Office might be also able to accept withdrawn bank notes and deposit them straight into a bank account that you can access with them.
Your bank branch
Banks no longer have to legally accept old paper notes and coins once they have been withdrawn from circulation. However, some do continue to allow customers to deposit them into their accounts.
According to MoneySavingExpert, Barclays, Halifax, Lloyds, Nationwide, NatWest and Santander allow customers to deposit old coins and notes into your account. However, PayPoint, which allows Monzo users to deposit cash into their accounts, told the site that customers will have to go to the Bank of England to swap old notes.
At the Bank of England
The Bank of England counter at Threadneedle Street, London, EC2R 8AH is usually open from 9.30am to 3pm Monday to Friday. You can exchange notes there.
However, you can always exchange withdrawn notes with the Bank of England by post. Unless you require your banknotes immediately, the bank suggests sending your banknotes via the post due to high demand in person at the moment.
The banknotes are sent at your own risk so people are advised to put measures in place to reduce the chance of loss or theft. In order to swap notes by post, you need to fill out a form and send it with your notes, a photocopy of your ID and proof of address.
The form can be downloaded here.
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