The Bank of England is responsible for maintaining confidence in the currency, by meeting demand with good quality genuine banknotes that the public can use with confidence. Designing new banknotes that take advantage of developments in security features is crucial to delivering this remit. For the past three years the Bank has conducted a research project looking at the materials on which banknotes are printed. In particular, the Bank has reviewed the relative merits of printing banknotes on polymer rather than the cotton paper as at present.
From our research, we are confident that printing on polymer would bring considerable benefits to both the durability and quality of banknotes, while also enhancing the strong security which the public associates with Bank of England banknotes.
Given
that banknotes play a role in everyone’s day to day lives, the Bank is
undertaking a public consultation programme before deciding whether to print on
polymer. As part of this programme we will be hosting a number of events
across the United Kingdom over the next two months, in order to give the public
an opportunity to learn more about polymer banknotes and to provide feedback
before we make a final decision.
