Over £2 billion in old £10 notes still in circulation as cut-off date to spend them looms

More than £2 billion worth of old-style £10 notes remain in circulation, with less than a fortnight to go until they are no longer accepted in UK shops.

From March 1, the paper £10 note will cease to be legal tender - replaced completely by the polymer version.

The Bank of England said the withdrawal rate is "broadly as expected" as the cutoff point approaches.

Although they can no longer be spent, anyone with the old notes can still exchange them for the new equivalent at the Bank of England.

The Jane Austen polymer note was launched last September as an update on the old version featuring Charles Darwin.

According to the latest figures, the value of paper £10 notes in circulation is around £2.182 billion - the equivalent of around 218 million paper £10 notes.

This means that paper £10 notes represent around 27% of £10s in circulation.

Currently, weekly returns of paper tenners are averaging a value £85 million.