Charles Darwin paper £10 notes won't be accepted by shops after today.
What it means: If you've got a piece of paper with Charles Darwin on it burning a hole in your pocket it's your last chance to go out and spend it. The Charles Darwin notes have been gradually replaced by Polymer (a type of plastic) Jane Austen ones since September, and today's the last day shops will accept them. The Bank of England estimates there are 211 million of the old tenners still out there. Can you do that maths? It's *loads*.
Most high street banks will continue to accept the old £10 notes from their own customers, even though they legally don't have to, in an attempt to get the old notes out of circulation.
But why the change? The new polymer notes are more durable and harder to forge, apparently. They can also be identified by blind people, thanks to a cluster of brail symbols.
