Jasmine Birtles
Your money-making expert. Financial journalist, TV and radio personality.
When Will Queen Elizabeth Currency Be Invalid?
Reading Time: 2 minutesThe launch of ‘Chuck bucks’ – money with King Charles on it – means many are questioning when we will need to stop using money minted with Queen Elizabeth II on it. Here’s everything you need to know!
When Will King Charles Money Be Released?
When Will Queen Elizabeth Money Stop Being Legal Tender?
What Happens If You Have Old Money?
When Will King Charles Money Be Released?
The first notes with King Charles on them will release on 5th June 2024. All four bank notes will be updated, which includes £5, £10, £20 and £50 notes – but the other designs on the reverse will stay the same.
You may not have noticed, but your wallet is probably full of King Charles III already! Coins with his face on were first rolled out in December 2022 on the 50p coin. All new coins are now minted with King Charles’ face.
When Will Queen Elizabeth Money Stop Being Legal Tender?
The good news is that there is currently no hard stop date for Queen Elizabeth money. Just as you’ve got both QEII and King Charles coins mingling in your purse, it’ll be the same for notes for the foreseeable future.
This is to ensure money production is as sustainable as possible, both for the environment and financially (printing money costs money!). So, new King Charles notes will only be created to replace old, worn Queen Elizabeth notes. There’s no mass rollout where QEII notes stop being legal tender for you to use in a shop – unlike when we switched from paper to polymer notes.
What Happens If You Have Old Money?
When the time eventually comes that Queen Elizabeth money is declared no longer legal tender (if that ever happens – it’s likely that it will be allowed to phase out over a very long period of time instead), your money won’t be worthless. Just as when we switched to polymer notes, there will be plenty of notice given to spend your final QEII notes. If you still have some (or find them down the back of your sofa years later), you haven’t lost your cash! You can take them into banks to exchange for current money.
But many people don’t know you can also deposit old notes into a Post Office account and they still count as legal currency. If you don’t have a Post Office account, you can still exchange up to £300 of old notes for new ones as long as you have photo ID.
You can also change very old notes (yes, even VERY old currency like pound notes!) with the Bank of England. You can do this by post (definitely get secure tracked postage) using the bank note exchange form, copies of ID, and address evidence. Or, you can also exchange in person at the Bank of England itself – which is a good idea if you have a LOT of notes to exchange.
Whichever option you choose when exchanging with the Bank of England, you can opt for a notes exchange or a payment into a bank account that accepts sterling payments.
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