Paper £10 notes lose their value
As of March 1, 2018, old paper banknotes are no longer legal tender, find out how the change in currency is impacting local retailers.
Launched in September 2017, new polymer Bank of England £10 notes have now replaced their paper predecessors.
Featuring a depiction of author Jane Austen, the new banknotes are similar in design to the polymer £5 notes that became legal tender in May last year.
Retail NI chief executive, Glyn Roberts is frustrated at how the recent changes to banknotes have been affecting local retailers.
“This has been a challenging few years for shoppers and retailers with the introduction of the new £1 coin and polymer banknotes,” he says.
Although it is at the discretion of the retailer on whether they choose to continue accepting the old banknote after the deadline, Retail NI urges consumers to exchange paper £10 notes with their bank or post office to avoid any potential difficulties.
The Bank of England maintains that the new note is cleaner, stronger, and safer with the added addition of Braille style bumps to help blind and partially sighted users, but local retailers are already facing difficulties with the new design.
Owner of O’Kane’s Superstore Ltd, Armagh, Brian O’Kane tells Neighbourhood Retailer that the new banknote has already been disruptive to business.
“It’s adding a lot of extra work and costs,” O’Kane says. “A lot of our note counters don’t process polymer notes so in the past few weeks I have had to spend well over £200 replacing them.
“We also have an internal ATM – which we fill ourselves – that can’t process both paper and polymer at the same time.”
Meanwhile Centra retailer, Ricky Leatham, believes the internal ATMs are going to be the biggest issue. He says: “The percentage that we get through on a daily basis isn’t high, however if we can’t lodge them in our internal ATMs we need to take them to the bank.
“What does the future hold for internal ATMs – are they going to spend the money to upgrade the machines to accept the new notes, or will the charges be passed onto the retailer?”
The Bank of England has outlined plans to launch a polymer £20 note in 2020 but at this point has not made a decision on material for future £50 notes.
