Banknotes featuring a portrait of King Charles III will be issued from 5 June 2024. The portrait of the King will appear on existing designs of all four banknotes (£5, £10, £20, and £50), with no other changes to the existing designs. This means you can check these notes in the same way you can check our polymer banknotes featuring Queen Elizabeth II.
Notes enter circulation
Banknotes that feature the portrait of Her late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II will remain legal tender and will co-circulate alongside King Charles III notes.
The new banknotes will only be printed to replace those that are worn and to meet any overall increase in demand for banknotes. Our approach is in line with guidance from the Royal Household, to minimise the environmental and financial impact of this change.
Banknotes featuring the portrait of Her late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, will remain legal tender, and can continue to be used. There is no need to exchange current banknotes for the new King Charles III notes.
We recognise, however, that people may be interested in seeing the new notes, and have therefore put in place temporary facilities to allow people to obtain a limited value of the King Charles III banknotes.
You can obtain the new King Charles III banknotes using our postal exchange service. If you send us current or old series banknotes, along with a completed application form, we will return King Charles III banknotes to you in exchange. The exchanged notes can only be sent to a UK address.
This service will be available from 5 June to 30 June 2024 up to a limit of £300 per customer. Cash sent to us in excess of this amount will be returned to you by your requested Return Postal Method, alongside the £300 of King Charles III banknotes. Applications should be made using the form that will be available on our website from 29 May 2024.
The Bank of England counter at Threadneedle Street will only be issuing new banknotes featuring King Charles III from 5 June to 11 June 2024. The counter is open to UK and non-UK residents. The same limit of £300 per customer applies.
Any banknote exchanges completed in excess of £300 on these dates will receive banknotes featuring the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II.
Please note that we expect there to be high volumes of customers and long wait times over this period. If you have an exchange of old series banknotes in excess of £300, we would strongly encourage you to avoid these dates.
From 12 June 2024, the Bank’s counter will revert to issuing Queen Elizabeth II banknotes only.
See information on other ways of exchanging old banknotes.
If your business uses, or is responsible, for any machines that accept, sort or check banknotes, you need to plan for their adaptation to work with the new note designs.
