New £10 Note Issued Today

14th September 2017

The new £10 not began to be issued into circulation today.

The note is printed on polymer and is the first Bank of England banknote with a tactile feature to help blind and partially sighted users.

As it is made of polymer, the new £10 note is cleaner, safer and stronger. It joins the Churchill £5 in the first family of polymer Bank of England banknotes and a new £20 note featuring J.M.W Turner will follow in 2020.

The £10 note contains sophisticated security features which make it very difficult to counterfeit. It is expected to last at least 2.5 times longer than the current paper £10 notes - around 5 years in total - and stay in better condition during day to day use.

The new tactile feature on this note is a series of raised dots in the top left-hand corner and has been developed in conjunction with the RNIB. This is in addition to the elements already incorporated in Bank of England banknotes for vision impaired people; the tiered sizing, bold numerals, raised print and differing colour palettes.

Jane Austen (1775 - 1817)

Novelist Jane Austen used wit and satire to provide insights into everyday life among the landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. She rejected the sentimental style of many contemporary writers in favour of irony and cynicism, which she used to highlight the social conventions that constrained women.

Jane began to write when she was just 11 years old, and by the age of 23 she had already drafted early versions of some of her most famous novels including Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility. All of Jane's work was published anonymously so, despite the fact her work was generally well received and even became fashionable in some circles, she achieved little recognition until after her death.

2017 marks the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen's death. She is buried at Winchester Cathedral, which appears on the new £10 note.

The new £10 note will be issued on 14 September 2017 and the public will begin to see them in the following days and weeks as the notes leave cash centres around the country and enter general circulation. The public can continue to spend paper £10 notes as usual and these will be gradually withdrawn as they are banked by retailers and the public. Legal tender status of the paper £10 featuring Charles Darwin will be withdrawn in Spring 2018 with the exact date being announced at least three months in advance.