Bank of England's New Banknote Discussion: Exploring Design Contenders, Including Stonehenge and Glittery Notes
The Bank of England has launched a public consultation on the future design of banknotes, inviting views on which themes should be featured on the next series, known as Series H. The consultation, which closes on July 31, 2025, aims to select themes that reflect the UK’s national identity and promote meaningful, enduring, and non-divisive designs.
Series H will retain the monarch’s portrait on all denominations (£5, £10, £20, £50), regardless of the design theme selected. The Bank has identified six potential themes for public consideration: historical figures, architecture and landmarks, arts, culture, and sport, noteworthy events or milestones in history, innovation, and nature.
Cash remains a vital part of the UK's payment ecosystem, accounting for one in four transactions. The Bank of England recognises the importance of banknotes not just as payment instruments but as symbolic representations of the nation’s identity.
The new series will incorporate tactile features for the visually impaired and will feature advanced security elements. The move from paper to polymer notes brought in new security features, such as clear spaces that allow for windows. The Bank is also testing the machine-readable features of the new banknotes with ATM and other cash-dependent machine providers.
The consultation on themes is the first stage of a multi-year process for designing the next series of banknotes. Once themes have been decided, the next step will be finding images and creating in-built security features for the new banknotes.
The current series of banknotes, Series F, was introduced throughout the 2010s. The latest series features key security elements, including hologram foils. The total value of all Bank of England banknotes in circulation is £86bn.
Interestingly, Stonehenge has been a common, unexpected favourite in the consultation for the next series of banknotes. The Bank is open to additional theme suggestions outside these six and will seek further public input on specific images once a theme is selected. Final designs will be announced in due course.
[1] Bank of England. (2022). Bank of England launches consultation on the future design of banknotes. Retrieved from https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/news/2022/march/bank-of-england-launches-consultation-on-the-future-design-of-banknotes
[3] Bank of England. (2022). Banknotes: Security features. Retrieved from https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/security-features
[4] Bank of England. (2022). Banknotes: Accessibility. Retrieved from https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/accessibility
- The Bank of England's consultation on the future design of banknotes includes the theme of sports, inviting suggestions on notable sports figures or significant sporting events that could be featured, as part of their aim to promote a meaningful and enduring design.
- In the technology industry, advanced security elements and machine-readable features in banknotes have become essential, giving rise to improvements such as the clear spaces that allow for windows, as seen in the move from paper to polymer notes by the Bank of England.
- In the business and banking-and-insurance sectors, investing in banknotes could be inclined towards those designs that truly represent the UK's national identity, considering that a strong national identity is one of the main factors driving the Bank of England's selection process for the new Series H banknotes.
