Bank of England note issues England Mark Carney announced that a newly designed £10 banknote, featuring novelist Jane Austen, would be issued in 2017. The campaign for a woman to appear celebrated the choice as "a brilliant day". The date of issue was subsequently confirmed as 14 September 2017. Like the £5 note featuring Churchill, the new £10 note is made from polymer rather than cotton paper. It depicts: £20 notes, in white, appeared in 1725 and continued to be issued until 1943. They ceased to be legal tender in 1945. After World War II, the £20 denomination did not reappear until 1970, when the
Bank of England note issues of England's notes have featured portraits of British historical figures. Of the eight banks authorised to issue banknotes in the UK, only the Bank of England can issue banknotes in England and Wales, where its notes are legal tender. Bank of England notes are not legal tender in Scotland and Northern Ireland, but are accepted there along with the respective countries' national banknotes. There are currently four different denominations of notes – £5, £10, £20 and £50. Each value has its own distinct colour scheme and the size of each note increases in length and width as the value increases.