The deadline coincides with the Banks of England`s deadline to withdraw £20 and £50 banknotes from circulation, which is also 30 September. Let`s discuss what legal tender is and whether or not Scottish banknotes are accepted in other parts of the UK. It is also interesting to note that if the strict rules of legal tender were to be respected in a transaction, the exact amount due should be offered, as no changes can be requested. Before that happens, we design a new ticket and start issuing it. Our tickets always keep their face value. If your local bank, construction company or post office does not accept them, you can exchange them with us. Scottish banknotes are unusual, on the one hand because they are issued by retail banks and not by state central banks, and on the other hand because they are technically legal tender nowhere in the UK – not even in Scotland, where no banknote – including those issued by the Bank of England – is defined as legal tender in law. [2] [3] Formally, they are classified as promissory notes, and the law requires issuing banks to hold a sum of Bank of England banknotes or gold equal to the total value of the banknotes issued. [4] You can find more information about our current tickets on this website.
In our Tickets section you will find information on the exchange of withdrawn banknotes, Scottish and Northern Irish banknotes and other topics. Swiss Post will continue to accept paper tickets after the deadline, as will some construction companies. All our polymer banknotes can be checked by looking for two important security features: a hologram that alters the image; and transparent windows. So if you can check a ticket denomination, you can check them all. Legal tender has a narrow technical significance that has no use in everyday life. This means that if you offer to pay a debt to someone who is legal tender in full, they won`t be able to sue you because you haven`t paid it off. The last banknotes to be withdrawn from use are paper banknotes worth £20 and £50, meaning people could be prevented from using them from 1 October. But the Scottish newspaper`s notes will continue to be accepted, according to the Scottish Bankers Committee, as reported in the Daily Record earlier this year. All Bank of Scotland banknotes bear a portrait of Sir Walter Scott on the obverse in memory of his Malachi Malagrowther campaign of 1826 for Scottish banks to retain the right to issue their own notes. [8] The Bank of Scotland`s 2007 banknote series is known as the Bridges of Scotland series. These notes were introduced on 17 September 2007 and show Scotland`s most famous bridges at the rear.
From 2016, the Bridges of Scotland series will be renewed with the issuance of new polymer banknotes with patterns that follow the same basic theme as bridges. The tercentenary and 2007 banknotes will be withdrawn from circulation and replaced by the Polymer series as soon as they are issued, but older banknotes will continue to be accepted by banks. With this in mind, the Scottish Bankers Committee has encouraged the public to issue or exchange non-polymer five- and ten-pound notes before 1 March 2018. [6] The question of trying to use Scottish money in England without success is a delicate one. According to a survey, a third of Britons are sure they won`t be able to use their Scottish banknotes in England. But are they right? Scottish banks have always committed to taking all their old banknotes at face value, even after the drawings have left circulation. Many banknotes, of course, are worth much more than their face value, as they have become collector`s items over the years. We are not able to advise you on the collection value of old banknotes. From that date, companies and businesses are no longer required to accept paper notes. The Bank of England`s website can also help clarify what is meant by “legal tender” and how little practical meaning the term has in everyday transactions. www.bankofengland.co.uk/knowledgebank/what-is-legal-tender The effects of the sudden inclusion of gold coins forced the Bank of England to turn to paper money, fearing it would completely deplete its gold reserves. While notes of £5 and over already existed in England, the considerable amount of money these notes represented at the time meant that many people had never owned or even seen a banknote.
The government has desperately tried to convince the British to use paper money for everyday transactions in order to save the country`s gold companies. In Scotland, however, the transition from gold to paper money has been much easier. According to the Bank of England`s website, there is still more than £6 billion worth of paper – £20 with economist Adam Smith and paper banknotes worth over £8 billion – £50 with engineers Boulton and Watt in circulation. That`s more than 300 million individual £20 notes and 160 million 50-pound paper notes. Scottish banknotes are sterling banknotes issued by three Scottish retail banks and in circulation in Scotland. The issuance of retail banknotes in Scotland is subject to the Banking Act 2009, which repealed all previous laws governing the issue of banknotes, and the Scottish and Northern Ireland Banknotes Regulations 2009. [1] Currently, three retail banks are authorised to print banknotes for circulation in Scotland: Bank of Scotland, Royal Bank of Scotland and Clydesdale Bank. The majority of banknotes in circulation in Scotland are issued by Scottish banks. Scottish banknotes circulate and are accepted quite freely in Scotland, and for the most part they are also easily accepted in England and Wales, although branches of Scottish banks cannot be issued there. However, you shouldn`t necessarily rely on Scottish notes to be accepted outside of Scotland, and this is especially true for travel abroad. Our general advice would be not to carry large quantities of banknotes of any kind and to use facilities such as traveller`s checks, credit/debit cards and debit cards to access funds abroad.
Bank of Scotland, Clydesdale Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland will withdraw their £20 and £50 paper notes on 30 September. To facilitate identification, the three issuing banks in Scotland use the same main colour for each denomination: blue for £5, brown for £10, purple for £20, green for £50 and red for £100. [7] This colour scheme is similar to current Bank of England banknotes (except that the £50 Bank of England note is red rather than green and does not issue a £100 note). With the introduction of polymer banknotes, the colour of the £50 and £100 banknotes was changed to red and turquoise respectively. The size of the banknotes is also uniform across the three Scottish banks and the Bank of England.