New One Pound Coin

28th March 2017, launch date of new £1 coin. Is it really happening? YES. The 30 year old £1 coin is getting changed. After the new fiver the new £1 coin will be in circulation and eventually the old £1 coin will not be accepted as legal tender anymore.

Dates To Remember

Businesses from all domains are going online to establish their digital image. This give the businesses an opportunity to:

28th March 2017: New £1 coin will be introduced.
28th March 2017 to 15th October 2017: Co-circulation period in which both the coins will be accepted as legal tender.
16th October 2017: Old £1 coin will not be accepted as legal tender.

Why New One Pound Coin?

It is said that one in 30 pound coin is counterfeit. It is high time to replace the 30 year old vulnerable pound coin with new coin which is highly secure. Businesses are losing due to such counterfeiting. That’s the main reason behind introduction of new one pound coin.

How is the New One Pound Coin secure?

The new coin has a number of features that make it much more difficult to counterfeit.

12-sided – This new shape makes it easy to recognise
Bimetallic – it is made of two metals. The outer ring is gold coloured (nickel-brass) and the inner ring is silver coloured (nickel-plated alloy).
Latent image –‘£’ symbol changes to the number '1' when the coin is seen from different angles.
Micro-lettering – it has very small lettering on the lower inside rim on both sides of the coin. One pound on the obverse “heads” side and the year of production on the reverse “tails” side, for example 2016 or 2017.
Milled edges – it has grooves on alternate sides.
Hidden high security feature – a high security feature is built into the coin to protect it from counterfeiting in the future.

Will it affect businesses with vending machines?

Yes, if the machines accepting old one pound coin are unable to recognise the new one pound coin then this will affect your business. Businesses are advised to speak to their vendors and necessary changes done.