Cash handling experts Volumatic are issuing a reminder to all businesses that handle cash that both the £20 and £50 paper banknotes will be removed from circulation by the Bank of England on Friday 30 September 2022.
This means that these old paper notes will no longer be legal tender and businesses need to make sure that any paper notes need to be deposited at banks by this date, as well as ensuring any further paper notes cannot be accepted from customers from 1 October 2022 onwards.
Like the £5 and £10 notes before them, the paper £20 and £50 notes are being replaced by the new polymer banknotes, which were first issued in February 2020 and June 2021, respectively. And while these £20 and £50 polymer notes have replaced the majority of paper banknotes over the past couple of years, the Bank of England has estimated that there are still more than 14 billion paper £20 and £50 notes still in circulation.
The benefits of polymer notes
There are a number of benefits to the new polymer notes. Firstly, these banknotes are more durable, as they are made of plastic rather than paper, meaning fewer new notes will need to be issued over time.
Secondly, the Bank of England has worked for many years to ensure these new polymer notes are more state-of-the-art and therefore more secure, meaning they are far more difficult to forge. Forged banknotes have caused headaches for retailers for many years, but since the £5 and £10 polymer notes were introduced in 2016/2017, followed by the £20 and £50 notes more recently, completing the set, the UK has already seen a sharp decline in the number of counterfeit notes in circulation.
The Bank of England’s Banknote Statistics Data said that in 2021, typically less than 1 in every 40,000 banknotes were counterfeit in the UK, but that still equates to a face value of £2.7 million pounds.
How to beat forgeries
While it is true that polymers notes are a huge step forward in helping to reduce forgeries, there are still a number of solutions businesses can invest in to help eliminate forgeries – and that’s where Volumatic can help.
Volumatic offer a variety of cost-effective solutions to reduce your cash handling and make your daily cash processing far more efficient. Currently used by businesses including Tesco, Morrisons, Wilko and the Co-op Food Group, our CounterCache intelligent (CCi), is an all-in-one unit that counts, detects 100% of forgeries and securely stores your cash, all at POS.
Notes cannot be touched or mislaid again until they reach the bank and the CCi also offers in-depth reporting for full visibility, and it can be integrated with any EPOS system or cash reconciliation software platform, making it perfect for most businesses.
If a business has the need to count much larger volumes of cash, Volumatic’s Friction Note Counters can count banknotes quickly and accurately whilst at the same time detect all known forgeries.
Retailers can be reassured that both the CCi and Volumatic’s various friction note counter devices have passed the Bank of England’s framework test for banknote machines and forgery detectors, which means they will reject all known forgeries in circulation.
Mike Severs, Sales and Marketing Director at Volumatic, said: “While businesses continue to face extra demands during the current cost-of living crisis, we’ve already seen evidence of an uplift in cash usage by consumers, who are now using cash more to help them budget more effectively.
“With more consumers looking to spend their old paper notes before the end-of-September deadline, it’s really important to remember to deposit any paper notes you either already have within your business or receive throughout this month to your bank before the end of September.”
If retailers are unable to deposit paper notes at the bank, there is also the option of a postal exchange with the Bank of England or notes can be exchanged at selected Post Office branches.
Comments are closed.