In the new bank money consultation of the Bank of England

The Bank of England first began issuing banknotes in 1694, and today there was a 4.7 billion sterling banknotes in circulation, worth a total combined £ 86 billion.

And while the use of cash as a payment method has dropped from about one of two transactions to one of the four decades, cash remains an important part of the British payment ecosystem.

Banknotes, banknotes £ 5, £ 10, £ 20, and £ 50, are very important for most cash -based transactions. The design has experienced several evolution, with a new ‘series’ that was introduced and retired every decade.

The latest note series currently circulating, followed by ‘F series’ and was introduced gradually throughout 2010 with designs that combine historical figures such as Sir Winston Churchill, Jane Austen and Alan Turing. The bank was re -issued in 2024 with a portrait of the new King Charles on the one hand, replacing the late Ratu.

In early July, the Bank of England launched a new consultation on future paper money design.

Open to the public, the consultation asks whether the next paper money series (H series) must break up with tradition by displaying historical figures on the one hand or replacing it with a significant theme nationally.

New paper money

Bank of England has identified six themes, including permanent with the traditions of famous historical figures. Other themes include architectural landmarks, images related to art and sports, innovations that change the world of England, and images from the natural world.

“We got thousands of responses that entered the Bank of England,” Victoria Cleland, Head of the Cashier and Executive Director of Bank England and Executive Director, told me, AM City.

“School children have liked it … it’s really caught the imagination of people, and they don’t just think ‘Oh well, let’s send a good picture,'” he added. The public can express their views on the six themes described by the bank through online forms or suggest other themes they think must be considered by the bank.

Some have posted their responses directly to the bank, including a proposal “really closed glitter.” The consultation on the theme is only the first stage of what will be a multi-year process in designing the next series of notes.

After the theme is decided, the next step is to find images, and this runs in line with the making of the security features built on the notes.

As Cleland explained, new security features will be designed around the overall theme of the note. “The main reason we make changes is around new security features, to make banknotes more difficult to make, something we have to be embedded in notes with accessibility.”

“All records will be the first we have introduced the touch feature for people who experience vision and vision disorders,” he added. Accessibility and security features will be entered into the design, which also needs to consider how notes will be used and whether the features are strong. “Gy -sparkling banknotes might have a short life,” Cleland said.

The paper money series currently has the main security element: key hologram foil, which is formed around the design theme.

“We have a margate tower, we have a young queen, we have a fur jane austen pen. We can change security features into various forms so that we will decide what its features are, and we can combine it with the image,” Cleland explained.

The transfer from paper to polymer records starting in 2016 was delivered in this new security era. “That is one of the great things brought by the polymer, that you can put the window in it and you can lift it, and there is a clear space in the polymer. That is something you can never do with paper, which makes the polymer more difficult to fake.”

The entire process, from beginning to end, combines the design, safety of the latest banknotes, accessibility and history features. The bank also needs to ensure that security features are easily understood by the general public. “If we have something that is so complicated … there’s no point in doing that … you must be able to explain it so that the public can understand and test themselves,” Cleland said.

Some security features will not function with this approach. “Some countries see geometric shapes. They don’t work well in security features because it is difficult to find out what they should,” he added.

Complex process

When the bank has a temporary design, the next stage is testing. Test with ATMs and machine providers that depend on other cash to understand if “can be read the machine [security] The “Cleland feature shows this is another area where the sparkling tone will fail to graduate).

Although it is impossible for us to study the results of consultation for some time, Cleland does provide some insights about the responses that the bank has seen.

Stonehenge has become a common and unexpected favorite. “This is some nature, that is part of a landmark, but I think it is something that is really inherent in people’s minds, and that is an unexpected thing to come.”

The consultation closed at 11:59 at night on July 31, 2025.