15 Nov 2017The Bank of England (BoE) has announced that paper £10 notes will cease to be legal tender in England and Wales after 1 March 2018. Paper £10 notes will also be demonetised after 1 March 2018 in Scotland. Consumers have until this date to spend their old £10 notes or swap them for new notes, and can exchange them at the BoE after 1 March. The demonetisation of the old paper £10 note comes following the removal of the paper £5 note from circulation in May and the demonetisation of the old round £1 coin in October. According to the BoE, the new polymer notes are difficult to counterfeit, and contain ‘sophisticated security features’. The notes are expected to last ‘at least 2.5 times longer than paper notes’, and stay in better condition during everyday use. The polymer £10 note went into circulation in September in England and Wales, and depicts author Jane Austen on the back. ‘Tactile’ features for the blind and partially-sighted are included on the note. New polymer £10 notes also went into circulation in Scotland in September and October.