ANYONE with paper £20 or £50 notes has less than a week left to spend them.
After September 30, 2022, you will no longer be able to spend old paper £20 and £50 notes.
Paper £20 and £50 notes are being taken out of circulation
That’s because after this date they’ll no longer be considered legal tender.
Consumers have been told to cash them in before the deadline.
However, you can still exchange your old notes at the Bank of England for new notes any time before or after this date.
You can send them in via post to: Dept Nex, Bank of England, Threadneedle Street, London EC2R 8AH.
Alternatively, you can take them into the Bank of England directly to save yourself the risk of your money getting lost.
The Bank of England Counter is on Threadneedle Street, London, EC2R 8AH and opens from 9.30am to 3pm Monday to Friday.
However, the bank issued a warning saying it was experiencing “very high demand” and people should expect long queues.
“You may therefore encounter waiting times in excess of an hour,” a statement on its website read.
“We would ask that you kindly consider the long wait times when travelling to the Bank to undertake an in person exchange – if you arrive after 1pm it is possible you may not get served before we close.”
Post Office branches are accepting old paper notes as well.
Use the Post Office online branch finder to see where your nearest one is.
The old paper have been replaced by plastic ones, and the Bank of England has been issuing urgent reminders to households to swap their old notes in.
Paper notes are being taken out of circulation because there are easier to counterfeit and are less durable.
As of June, there were still £14billion worth of the old style notes still in circulation – equivalent to more than 300 million individual £20 notes and 160 million £50 ones.
There were £6billion of paper £20 notes featuring economist Adam Smith still circulating, and more than £8billion worth of paper £50 notes featuring engineers Boulton and Watt.
While the artist JMW Turner features on the new £20 polymer notes, and mathematician Alan Turing is on the new £50 polymer notes.
If you miss the deadline, there’s no need to panic.
You can still deposit notes at the Post Office or at the Bank of England itself after the September deadline.
You can find the full guidance on the Bank of England’s website.
We previously revealed the most valuable and rare £20 notes.
Here’s how to spot “rare” £20 notes and what serial numbers to look out for.