The first polymer note to be issued will be the £5-note featuring Sir Winston Churchill and will be released in 2016 followed a year later by the £10-note, which will feature an image of Jane Austen. According to BoE the new notes will still retain the look of the current banknotes and will include the portrait of HM The Queen.
The new notes will be smaller than current versions with the £5 note measuring 125x65mm and £10 notes measuring 132x69mm. Each subsequent denomination will be 7mm longer and 4mm higher than the previous one, making them slightly larger than their equivalent Euro denominations.
In a widely anticipated move, the BoE also confirmed that it expected to agree a contract with Innovia Security, to supply the polymer material for the new notes.
A division of UK-based speciality film manufacturer Innovia Films, Innovia Security currently has sites in Australia, Mexico and China, however under the proposed contract with BoE the firm will open a full polymer 'opacification' plant at Innovia Films’ existing site in Wigton, Cumbria in early 2016.
The £20m development will be in addiiton to Innovia's recently announced £20m investment, also at Wigton, for the installation of additional Biaxially Oriented Polyproplene (BOPP) film capacity and a gas turbine.
On its recognition as preferred supplier of the polymer substrate for the new £5 and £10 notes, Innovia Group chief executive David Beeby said: "We are very proud. This decision not only recognises the benefits that polymer notes have to offer but also Innovia's expertise in ths field."
The BoE banknote printing contract, which has been held by De La Rue since 2003, is currently out to tender with the successful bidder for the £1bn contract due to start in April 2015. Printing will continue to be carried out at BoE’s printing facility in Debden, Essex.
According to the BoE the switch to polymer along with the reduction in note size will result in substantial savings on substrate and printing costs due to the notes’ added durability – they are expected to last 2.5 times longer than the current cotton paper note substrate.
BoE governor Mark Carney said: “Polymer notes are the next step in the evolution of banknote design to meet that objective. The quality of polymer notes is higher, they are more secure from counterfeiting, and they can be produced at lower cost to the taxpayer and the environment.”
Martyn Eustace, director of Two Sides, which has campaigned against a move to polymer notes, said the decision was disappointing. “But perhaps this is more a matter of personal choice although there is anecdotal evidence of consumer mistrust.
“For me, there is something dependable and trustworthy about renewable and recyclable paper and I don’t feel that we will ever feel that attachment to plastic notes. It may be that the introduction of the notes will encourage more consumer reaction, which so far has been quite muted.”
The announcement today follows a two-month public consultation on the move to polymer banknotes that attracted nearly 13,000 responses with 87% in favour of the switch, 6% opposed and 7% neutral.
Chris Salmon, executive director for banking services and chief cashier, said: “We are grateful to the thousands of people who came to talk to us about polymer banknotes. We know that the public care greatly about their banknotes and the feedback we received provided an invaluable input into our final decision.”
