5 Things You Need To Know About the New £1 Coin and £5 Note

How to Prepare for the Arrival of the New £1 Coin

As you may well know, the Royal Mint is giving UK currency a slight makeover this year with the introduction of the new 12-sided one pound coin and the plastic five pound note. With the benefits of the new coin being more secure as it is not as easily counterfeited as the previous one, will it still set out to cause issues for businesses and us at home around the UK? Here are 5 things you need to know about our new currency…

Change your Piggy Banks

So, when does this new money drop into our system? Well, the five-pound notes are already here and the filtering of the old notes is slowly but surely taking place. The new one-pound coin, however, will be introduced this March (2017). Whilst it is usually a slow process of elimination over the course of a year or longer, this coin will not be taking its time to become the only one with the old coins being defunct by October 2017. The new plastic five-pound notes are said to be taken out of circulation as of May 2017. If you are a saver, then you are advised to take your change jars and piggy banks to your bank and get your pound coins and notes swapped over as soon as possible because by the end of the year, both of these forms of currency will cease to be legal tender.

 PiggyBank

What Does the New Coin Look Like?

The new one pound coin is much light in weight in comparison to our current one pound coin. It has 12 sides and has a silver center with a gold outer ring, very similar to our current two-pound coins. Bold new designs will be featured on the newest coins that include an emblem from each country in the United Kingdom. From the UK come’s a rose, a shamrock from Northern Ireland, a Scottish thistle and a Welsh leek.

Pound Coin

Features of the New 5 Note

If you are a resident of the UK then you will already know the features of the new five-pound note. However, if you are note familiar, the new five-pound note has changed in material from its usual paper form to plastic. Instead of the image of George Stephenson (the founder of the first railway) it now features an image of Winston Churchill on the front and Jane Austin on the back. Other features include extremely fine details such as clear windows displaying a portrait of the queen, small metal strips across the note and an ultraviolet feature that displays the number 5 in bright red and green when ultraviolet lights are shone on it.

Five Pound Note

Security Features

The reason for the newest coins release is said to be due to such high volumes of counterfeit with the simple round one-pound coins that are currently in circulation. The latest coin features such as the 12 sides are much harder to counterfeit, but not only that, every other edge of the coin has been fitted with ridges. One of the most clever characteristics of this coin is the latent image on the front that changes from an image of the ‘£’ symbol to a ‘1’ depending on which angle you look at it. There is also a high security feature inside the coin, which stops it being counterfeited so easily. 

12 sided pound coin

How will it affect business?

The main way that this will affect business are those that have machinery that only take £1. From vending machines to locker rooms at spas and gyms, all of these pieces of machinery that take the one pound coin for security will have to be reprogramed and/or altered to suit the new shape and design. However, businesses such as supermarket giants have already claimed that the designs of their trolley lock systems will be altered to suit the arrival of the new shape coin.

Trolley Lock

So, now that you are fully ‘in-the-know’ in regards to the arrival of the new one-pound coin and five-pound note, it is time to start thinking of getting them exchanged. If you have any questions or queries and would like to speak to a member of our team, please contact us today.

 

 

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