Bank of England £5 note

The Bank of England £5 note, also known as a fiver, is a sterling banknote. It is the smallest denomination of banknote currently issued by the Bank of England. On 5 June 2024 and 13 September 2016, a new polymer note was introduced, featuring the images of King Charles III and the late Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse and a portrait of Winston Churchill on the reverse. The note is of a green colouring. The old paper note, first issued in 2002 and bearing the image of prison reformer Elizabeth Fry on the reverse, was phased out and ceased to be legal tender after 5 May 2017.^{[citation needed]}

Five pound notes (£5) were introduced by the Bank of England in 1793, following the ten pound note, which had been introduced in 1759 as a consequence of gold shortages caused by the Seven Years' War. The 5 pound note was introduced again, due to gold shortages caused by the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars and was the lowest denomination of note issued until 1797. The earliest notes were handwritten and were issued to individuals as needed. These notes were written on one side only and bore the name of the payee, the date and the signature of the issuing cashier.

In 1797, due to the extra money needed to fund the war and the uncertainty caused as Britain declared war on France, a series of bank runs drained the Bank of England of its gold supply. The Bank was forced to stop exchanging gold for notes and to issue notes of £1 and £2 denominations. This was known as the "restriction period", as the exchange of notes for their value in gold was restricted.

The Restriction Period ended in 1821 as the Government had to anchor the value of the currency to gold in order to control sharply rising inflation and national debt. After a brief period to offset any sudden deflation, the UK returned to the gold standard on 1 May 1821. These notes could again be exchanged in full, or in part, for an equivalent amount of gold when presented at the bank. If redeemed in part, the banknote would be marked to indicate the amount that had been redeemed. From 1853 printed notes replaced handwritten notes, with the declaration "I promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of five pounds" replacing the name of the payee. This declaration remains on Bank of England banknotes to this day. A printed signature of one of three cashiers appeared on the printed notes, though this was replaced by the signature of the Chief Cashier from 1870 onward. The £5 of the time was much larger and had a blank back with nothing printed on it.

The right to redeem banknotes for gold ceased in 1931, when Britain stopped using the gold standard. Metal thread was introduced on the £5 note in 1945 as a security feature. The printed black and white notes were replaced from 1957 onwards by new, two-sided notes. The first two-sided £5 notes (series B) were blue and featured a bust of Britannia on the front and a lion on the back. Series C notes, first introduced in 1963, were the first notes to feature an image of the monarch on the front, with Britannia being relegated to the back. From 1971 onward, with the introduction of series D, a British historical figure was portrayed on the reverse: the soldier and statesman the Duke of Wellington in this case. Series E notes, first issued in 1990, are multicoloured, although they are predominantly turquoise-blue. These notes feature a portrait of railway pioneer George Stephenson, as well as for the first time "windowed" metal thread; this thread appears as a dashed line, yet forms a single line when held up to the light.

In 2002, a problem was identified in which the serial numbers could be rubbed off some notes. The problem was highlighted after six members of the public complained to The Bank of England; banks as well as Post Offices stopped distributing the notes at the request of the Bank of England to stop issuing the new £5 notes. The Bank said the move was a "precautionary measure while we carry out further tests and investigative work into what might have caused the fault and how widespread the problem is". The bank consequently did rigorous testing and found the problem to be that the serial numbers were printed over the varnish rather than under it allowing the ink to be removed if enough force was applied. The Bank started to varnish the notes in an attempt to make them last longer than previous notes which only had an estimated lifespan of nine months.

A spokesman for the Bank of England said: "The notes are still legal tender and the public shouldn't have a problem spending them in the shops. As long as shopkeepers check the anti-counterfeit measures, then the lack of serial numbers is not a problem.

"If members of the public are concerned, then they should take the notes back to the bank where they will be exchanged."