Paper notes, featuring Elizabeth Fry on the reverse, will be withdrawn from circulation on 5 May 2017. The only £5 note that will be legal tender after this date is the polymer £5 featuring Sir Winston Churchill, which was introduced in September 2016. You can continue to spend them until this date, after which they will cease to be legal tender.
The Bank of England has commented that some whilst operators, retailers, banks and building societies may choose to accept paper £5 notes after the withdrawal date, this is at the discretion of the individual institution.
To help reduce the number of paper £5 notes in circulation, the Bank of England encourages businesses to stop dispensing them back out as change, so that when the public spend their final fivers, they are not recycled back into circulation. Businesses can also help their staff and the public prepare by ordering the paper £5 note withdrawal posters, free of charge from the educational materials page at www.bankofengland.co.uk .
Old notes can always beexchanged at the Bank of England.
