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Cash goes 'plastic' in Wigton

80 jobs will be created in Wigton at a company that will produce the Bank of England's new five and ten pound notes.

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Plastic banknotes: What you need to know

  • The notes are wipe-clean and can survive a hot wash
  • The notes are virtually impossible to rip
  • Polymer notes are able to fold
  • Governor Mark Carney led Bank of Canada when the notes were introduced there
  • Polymer notes are used in more than 20 countries
  • The first county to switch to polymer was Australia in 1996
  • A move to polymer notes would end 320 years of paper note tradition in Britain
  • Five-pund notes currently last for around two years
  • Polymer fivers would last for about six year
  • Old polymer notes can be recycled
  • The Bank expects to save more than £100 million over a decade from the longer-lasting notes
  • Polymer notes would be 5 millimetres smaller in both length and width than current notes
  • The new notes are said to be more difficult to forge

Read more: Plastic banknotes could be used in UK in 2016

Read: Washed-out bank notes could soon be a thing of the past

Read: BoE to hold public consultation on plastic banknotes

Plastic bank notes mean cash boost for Wigton

The new plastic Bank of England bank notes are almost certainly going to be manufactured right here in our region.

It'll mean a new 20 million pounds factory will be built in West Cumbria, creating around 80 new jobs.

Innovia Security in Wigton is close to signing the contract to supply the material for the new-style five and ten pound notes, which will be brought into circulation in two years' time. Matthew Taylor reports.

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'Plastic' bank notes bring 80 new jobs in Wigton

80 jobs will be created in Wigton at a company that will produce the Bank of England's new five and ten pound notes.

Innovia Security will spend 20 million pounds on a new factory to make the bills in 2016.

The first new-style polymer-plastic five pound note will feature the face of Winston Churchill.

A year later the polymer ten pound note featuring Jane Austen will come into circulation.

Carney: Plastic design next step in banknote evolution

Plastic notes are the next step in the evolution of banknote design, the Governor of the Bank of England said after announcing that the next £5 and £10 banknotes will be printed on polymer, rather than on the cotton paper used for notes currently in issue.

"Ensuring trust and confidence in money is at the heart of what central banks do. The quality of polymer notes is higher, they are more secure from counterfeiting, and they can be produced at lower cost to the taxpayer and the environment."

– Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England
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