Archive for August, 2017

All about the new £10 note

Posted on: August 31st, 2017 by Ian Stormnet

18th July, 2017 was the 200th anniversary of the death of Jane Austen. The Bank of England unveiled the new £10 note on this day which has Jane Austen on the back. The new note “will recognise her universal appeal and enduring contribution to English literature”, Winchester Cathedral said in a statement concerning the launch.

“There can be no better place to unveil the new £10 banknote, featuring Jane Austen, and there can be no better time than today, the 200th anniversary of her death,” Bank of England governor Mark Carney said at the launch.

The new £10 note enters circulation on 14th September. “The £10 paper banknote is the oldest Bank of England banknote design in circulation and therefore the security features require updating to take advantage of developments in technology,” the Bank said in a recent paper.

Production of the new £10 polymer note began last August and the Bank has already printed more than 275 million notes, but they’re not quite ready to launch yet. The new note will be smaller than the current one – but larger than the new fiver. The size ratios will be the same as the ones between the old paper fiver and paper tenner. It will be made of the same materials as the new five pound note too.

The new £10 has a few distinct features about it.

 

Tactile feature
The front has raised print. Two clusters of raised dots in the top left hand corner. This tactile feature will be particularly helpful to blind people or partially sighted people to help them identify the value of the note. The polymer £20 will also have a tactile feature, but with a different pattern. The polymer £5 will be identifiable as the only polymer note without a tactile feature.

Cleaner, safer, stronger
The beauty of polymer notes is their strength. They are more cleaner and ultimately last longer than paper notes. Polymer notes are more resilient to dirt and moisture so they will stay cleaner much longer than paper notes. The enhanced security features make them very difficult to be counterfeited. A polymer note is not indestructible; however, wear and tear is far longer than paper notes with a lifetime expectancy of 2.5 times more than a paper note.

What do I need to do?

Absolutely nothing, the current £10 notes will gradually be withdrawn as retailers and businesses bank them. The note can still be used until the Spring of 2018 when it will be withdrawn from circulation. The Bank of England will give 3 months’ notice prior to withdrawal.