Like the polymer £20 note, which was first issued early last year, the new £50 features two key security features that can be checked to help confirm that it is genuine.
They are; a metallic hologram which changes between the words ‘Fifty’ and ‘Pounds’ when the note is tilted, and a large see-through window with a gold and green foil on the front depicting a finely detailed metallic microchip image.
Among numerous other additional features, the Queen’s portrait appears in the see-through window with ‘£50 Bank of England’ printed twice around the edge.
The polymer notes last longer than paper notes and stay in better condition during their use.
Like the polymer £10 and £20 notes, the new £50 note will contain a tactile feature to help vision impaired people identify the denomination.
It joins the Churchill £5, the Austen £10 and the Turner £20, meaning all Bank of England banknotes will be available in polymer as of the £50 note’s issue date of 23 June 2021, which coincides with Alan Turing’s birthday.
Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, said: “There's something of the character of a nation in its money, and we are right to consider and celebrate the people on our banknotes. So I’m delighted that our new £50 features one of Britain’s most important scientists, Alan Turing.
“Turing is best known for his codebreaking work at Bletchley Park, which helped end the Second World War. However, in addition he was a leading mathematician, developmental biologist, and a pioneer in the field of computer science.
“He was also gay, and was treated appallingly as a result. By placing him on our new polymer £50 banknote, we are celebrating his achievements, and the values he symbolises.”
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning (25 March), Alan Turing’s great-nephew James Turing, who runs the Turing Trust, added: “It’s quite an unbelievable honour and certainly highlights the enormity of Alan’s legacy.
“Hopefully we’re doing something through the Turing Trust that he would be proud of in continuing to further enable access to a digital world.
“Particularly from my family’s perspective, we’re very happy about seeing the contributions Alan made to artificial intelligence, computing and mathematics all really come through in several clever features on the note.”
The Bank of England said the public can continue to use paper £50 notes as usual. Notice will be given at least six months ahead of the date when the old paper £50 is withdrawn.
The polymer £50 note will also feature the signature of Sarah John, the Bank’s chief cashier.
“This new £50 note completes our set of polymer banknotes. These are much harder to counterfeit, and with its security features the new £50 is part of our most secure series of banknotes yet,” said John.
“These security features are common across all our banknotes, so if you can check one, you can check them all.”
The Bank of England awarded the substrate contract for the new £50 note to CCL Secure and De La Rue in June 2019.
De La Rue is the sole printer of Bank of England banknotes at the Bank’s facility in Debden. In October, the Bank extended its banknote printing contract with De La Rue for an additional three years to 2028.
