There is now less than three months left to spend or bank the old round £1 coins as the new dodecagon (12-sided) version outnumbers the old coin for the first time since it was introduced in March.
The Treasury has set the deadline as the 15th October and shops will be able to refuse the old version of the coin from then when it will cease to become legal tender. Though, don’t worry if you find any old coins after the deadline, you should still be able to deposit them at your UK Bank.
Andrew Jones, the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury says “The clock is ticking. We are urging the public to spend, bank or donate their old pound coins and asking businesses who are yet to do so, to update their systems before the old coin ceases to be legal tender.”
Get your kids to check their money boxes and start swapping them over now.
Made by the Royal Mint using cutting-edge technology in South Wales its bold new design features an English Rose, a Welsh leek, a Scottish thistle and a Northern Irish Shamrock.
The old pound coin has been replaced for the first time in over thirty years because of its susceptibility to being counterfeited. The estimate is that approximately 3% of the old round £1 coins in circulation was a counterfeit, which equates to around £30 million.
