Paper £5 and £10 notes to be withdrawn next month

Paper £5 and £10 notes will be withdrawn from circulation next month, following the introduction of the polymer replacements.

The Committee of Scottish Bankers said that the notes will not be valid for purchases after 1 March, the same day that paper £10 notes will be taken out of circulation by the Bank of England. Consumers will still be able to exchange the old notes at bank branches after the deadline.

A spokesman for the CSCB said: “Thanks to the work that the issuing banks have already undertaken to swap the older paper notes with the more secure, environmentally friendly polymer notes, the majority of £5 and £10 notes have already been replaced with polymer.

“We have set a deadline for using paper £5 and £10 notes as 1 March. The Scottish note-issuing banks will continue to accept old paper-based notes and there are currently no plans to change this.”

The CSCB said polymer delivers “significant benefits”overpaper,particularly when combined with stateof-the-art security features whichmakethenotesharder to counterfeit. Polymer is also stronger than paper and so notes should last longer, remain in better condition and deliver environmental benefits.

Scottish polymer notes now account for about 80 per cent of £10 notes and 90 per cent of £5 notes circulating in Scotland.