On Tuesday 13th September the new five pound note comes in to circulation and will slowly start to be seen in banks, shops and wallets across the country.
One of the biggest changes to the new fiver is that it is the first British bank note to be made from polymer (plastic), which will help the note last longer (on average 5 years longer than paper notes), is cleaner and crucially is more difficult to counterfeit.
What else is there to know about the new five pound note?
- Whilst the new fiver comes in to circulation on 13th September 2016, it may take some time before you see your first one in the wild.
- The current five pound note will be usable until May 2017, after which point shops and businesses will stop accepting them. Don’t panic though, you will be able to exchange any old paper fivers you have for a shiny new fiver at the Bank of England.
- The note is 15% smaller than the current fiver.
- As well as the Queen, the new five pound note also now features Winston Churchill on the rear.
- The notes feature another anti-counterfitting technique – a see through window.
- 440 million new five pound notes have been printed – they’re worth a total of £2.2 billion!
- As well as these £5 notes from the Bank of England, the Scottish banks will also be releasing their own new fivers in the next few weeks.
- At the end of their lifetime, the ploymer notes will be recycled.
We’re interested to see just how quickly the new note spreads throughout the country, so if you come across one, why not send us a selfie with it at my Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/moneywatch with the hashtag #newfiver
Find out more information at the new fiver website.