£1.5bn of outdated £5 and £10 notes are still in the wild

Do you have any old Bank of England five or ten pound notes knocking about? You’re not alone. Although they are no longer legal tender, you can still exchange them over the counter at the Bank of England, or by post.

There is no fee for this service and there is no expiry on the period in which the Bank will exchange old notes.

A bank spokeswoman said the number of £5 paper notes returned (224 million) was lower than expected, while the number of £10 notes (697 million) was in line with expectations.