Which £20 Notes Are Still Legal Tender

The Bank of Eng­land announ­ced in advan­ce that the­se notes would be pha­sed out from Fri­day (30 Sep­tem­ber) to com­bat coun­ter­feit­ing. Paper notes are repla­ced by new poly­mer ver­si­ons. It is important to know when the old £20 notes expi­re, as the Bank of England‘s pay­ment date is this year. From Octo­ber, the­se notes will no lon­ger be legal ten­der, which means that com­pa­nies will no lon­ger be able to accept them. The Bank of Eng­land has advi­sed peo­p­le to issue or depo­sit their old notes befo­re Sep­tem­ber 30 to ensu­re they are not was­ted. At the out­break of the First World War, the Cur­ren­cy and Bank Notes Act 1914 was pas­sed, giving Her Majesty‘s Tre­asu­ry tem­po­ra­ry power to issue £1 and £10 (ten shil­lings) notes. Tre­asu­ry bills were legal ten­der and could not be con­ver­ted into gold through the bank; They repla­ced the gold coin in cir­cu­la­ti­on to avo­id a rush to the pound ster­ling and to allow the purcha­se of goods for the pro­duc­tion of wea­pons. The­se bank­no­tes fea­tured an image of King Geor­ge V (Bank of Eng­land bank­no­tes did not show an image of the mon­arch until 1960). Their old £20 note is still legal ten­der and will be accept­ed by all retail­ers until 30 Sep­tem­ber 2022. Eco­no­mist Adam Smith appears on the ori­gi­nal £20 note. While the new poly­mer note fea­tures artist JMW Tur­ner. The roman­tic artist‘s self-por­trait was pain­ted in 1799 and is on dis­play at Tate Bri­tain in London.

As of Fri­day, Sep­tem­ber 30, you will no lon­ger be able to use your old paper tickets. That being said, your money won‘t be lost. If you are not sure whe­ther your note is still legal ten­der, you can visit the Bank of Eng­land web­site (which opens in a new tab). When the paper notes are retur­ned to the Bank of Eng­land, they will be repla­ced by the new 20-pound poly­mer notes with JMW Tur­ner and the 50-pound poly­mer notes with Alan Turing. If you miss the issue date or file a £20 paper, don‘t worry, you won‘t lose. After Sep­tem­ber 30, only our poly­mer bonds will be legal ten­der. Swiss Post accepts with­drawn bank­no­tes as a depo­sit in any bank account. Go to your local branch to drop off the old £20 note.

If you have paper notes of £20 or £50, we recom­mend using them befo­re 30 Sep­tem­ber 2022 or depo­si­ting them with your bank or post office. From dead­line 30. By Sep­tem­ber 2022, you will no lon­ger be able to use Bank of Eng­land paper notes in shops or use them to pay busi­nesses. If you have an old legal ten­der, such as a £5 or £10 paper note, you can exch­an­ge or depo­sit it using this method. “The majo­ri­ty of paper bank­no­tes have sin­ce been with­drawn from cir­cu­la­ti­on, but a signi­fi­cant num­ber remain in the eco­no­my, so we ask you to check if you have any at home. Cur­se your pockets, pur­ses and the back of your couch for your old £20 bills. The Bank of Eng­land must give up to six months‘ noti­ce when an old bank is aban­do­ned as a means of pay­ment. This gives the public a reasonable amount of time to spend their old note befo­re it expi­res. The Bank of Eng­land has announ­ced that the £20 note will be released after Sep­tem­ber 30. Sep­tem­ber 2022 will no lon­ger be legal ten­der – and tho­se £50 paper notes will also be with­drawn from cir­cu­la­ti­on on that day. After this date, many UK banks will accept with­drawn notes as cus­to­mer depo­sits. Some post offices may also accept with­drawn notes as a depo­sit into a bank account that you can access with them.

Cur­se your pockets, pur­ses and the back of your couch for your old £20 bills. The Bank of Eng­land has been moving towards the use of new pla­s­tic notes for many years, and once the old notes offi­ci­al­ly beco­me inva­lid, peo­p­le will no lon­ger be able to issue Bank of Eng­land paper notes in shops or use them to pay busi­nesses. We will revo­ke the sta­tus of our £20 and £50 notes after 30 Sep­tem­ber 2022. The new 20-pound pla­s­tic and poly­mer bills fea­ture a new ico­nic image, as well as enhan­ced secu­ri­ty fea­tures to pre­vent frau­du­lent acti­vi­ty. It has alre­a­dy been descri­bed as “the safest bank­no­te yet” becau­se the new secu­ri­ty fea­tures include a holo­gram and a trans­pa­rent win­dow – two fea­tures that are dif­fi­cult to copy exact­ly. The new bank­no­tes have advan­ced secu­ri­ty fea­tures such as the sea through the win­dow, holo­gram images, rai­sed dots, ultra­vio­let num­bers, slide spots, embos­sed prin­ting, and num­bers so small that only someone using a magni­fy­ing glass can see them. The Bank of Eng­land said: “Bank­no­tes are resistant to dirt and mois­tu­re and the­r­e­fo­re stay in bet­ter con­di­ti­on lon­ger. The­se notes also have touch fea­tures that allow blind and visual­ly impai­red peo­p­le to use them. The Bank of Eng­land also points out that many banks will con­ti­nue to accept old bank­no­tes as depo­sits, while the post office can also accept them into any bank account you can access. Go to your local branch to drop off the old £20 note.

If you still have one of the elders in your pos­ses­si­on, here‘s ever­y­thing you need to know what you can do with it. Alter­na­tively, you can exch­an­ge paper notes for poly­mer sil­ver at some post offices. You can check if your local branch offers this ser­vice on the Bank of Eng­land web­site. The new bank­no­te depicts Queen Eliza­beth II on the obver­se and JMW Tur­ner, an 18th and 19th cen­tu­ry Bri­tish artist, on the rever­se. His self-por­trait, as it appears on the new £20, is curr­ent­ly on dis­play at Tate Bri­tain, whe­re the­re will also be a new exhi­bi­ti­on dedi­ca­ted to Tur­ner later this year. If you miss the date of issue or depo­sit of a £20 paper, don‘t worry, you won‘t lose. After this date, cafes, bars, shops and restau­rants will no lon­ger accept the £20 paper ticket. This is exact­ly the same day as the old expiry date of the £50 note. The Bank of Eng­land must announ­ce up to six months in advan­ce when an old bank will fail. This gives the audi­ence enough time to trans­mit their old note befo­re it expires.

The note is prin­ted on spe­cial paper, which gives it a uni­que feel. On the front of the note, you may feel increased pres­su­re. For exam­p­le, in the words “Bank of Eng­land” and in the lower right cor­ner around the num­ber “20”. Many banks accept with­drawn notes as cus­to­mer depo­sits. Most of the paper notes have been repla­ced by the new poly­mer ver­si­ons prin­ted with the face of the artist J M W Tur­ner. Howe­ver, the­re are still paper notes worth around £5 bil­li­on, with £20 in cir­cu­la­ti­on. After Sep­tem­ber 30, only our poly­mer bank­no­tes will be legal ten­der. You can still recei­ve paper notes from com­pa­nies or others until Sep­tem­ber 30, 2022. Focus on the­se important secu­ri­ty fea­tures to con­firm that a £20 or £50 note is genui­ne: the post office accepts with­drawn notes as a depo­sit into any bank account.

Go to your local branch to drop off the old £20 note. How to get the new £20 note and what to do with your old one We will with­draw legal ten­der sta­tus from our £20 and £50 paper notes after 30 Sep­tem­ber 2022.