When you want to buy something, you generally use currency. In the UK (England, Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland) we use British Pounds (Sterling) as the currency. The pound can be divided into 100 pence.
The Bank of England issues currency in England & Wales, Local banks in Scotland & Northern Ireland also issue bank notes that look different to English notes. Notes from the whole UK are spendable anywhere in the UK (ie you can spend a Scottish note in England and an English note in Northern Ireland). It's sometimes a bit of a faff spending locally issued currency out of area, they're legal tender, but businesses aren't legally required to accept them. Often they are refused simply due to unfamiliarity.
There are 8 coins and 4 notes that make up the selection. 1p & 2p coins are the smallest denomination, since the early 1990s they are made from copper coated mild steel. 5p & 10p coins are next up since 2012 they're made from nickel plated mild steel, pre 2012 they were made from cupro-nickel (75% copper 25% nickel). The 1p 2p 5p & 10p coins are round.
The 20p and 50p coins are the big boys of the pocket change coins, they're made from cupro-nickel (20p 84% copper 16% nickel. 50p 75% copper 25% nickel). The 20p & 50p are both 7 sided regular heptagons. The coins are all two sided and we refer to the sides as heads & tails. The head side has the Queen or King and the tails have tons of different designs. This means that every coin can be used to settle a 2 sided discussion. When the impasse is reached you flip the coin heads is answer 1, tails is answer 2.
The £1 & £2 coins don't fit into my pocket change category, they are still pocket sized and are often given as change, I guess I don't class em that way because they're full pounds! They're both bi-metallic coins, the outer ring is nickel-brass (76% copper 20% zinc 4% nickel) and the inner circle (planchet) is nickel plated alloy on the £1 and cupro-nickel (75% copper 25% nickel) on the £2.
Notes come in £5 £10 £20 & £50 variations. Fivers, tenners & twenties are common, fifties are only used by drug dealers & Londoner city types! The notes are all now printed on polymer so they're much more resilient than the paper ones.
Now we get to the reason I wanted to write this :) the security features. Cash has long since been a target for forgers, back in the day when coins were made of precious metals less so, but now they're made from common metals and plastic, protection is a must. The £1 & £2 coins both feature latent images in the design. The £2 has a padlock that turns to a trident and the £1 has a £ that turns into a 1.
The notes is where the anti-forgery technology is easier to spot. Each of the notes have transparent windows with an image of the Queen or King, a high resolution holographic central image and highly detailed printing.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic the UK and no doubt the rest of the world has been edging ever closer to a cashless society. It is not uncommon for places in the UK to no longer accept cash. It's becoming more and more common for places that used to be 100% cash only (honesty boxes, travelling markets etc.) to have cashless options. I don't have strong views either way about this. I think cash is a nice thing, but it has many downsides. Cashless has problems too. I'm pretty happy with the hybrid we've currently got. I've usually got my phone & that has google pay on it, the flip is that there's a £20 note in my phone case and bags that I often carry for "emergency" use!
Google pay (and apple pay) has many built in security features that protect the card from unauthorised use and from iffy vendors. The real card details are not shared with the vendor, one time use details are supplied during the "beep" transaction. The real card details are stored in a secure storage area of the phone and the biometric unlock must be used to activate tap to pay each time you use it. Lots of internet transactions force a 2FA process, where you have to open your banking application and approve the transaction before it completes.
Physical cards are still a thing, but I very rarely use mine. The cards have Chip & PIN protection, but this is largely useless as transactions under an amount set by your bank do not require you to key in the PIN. My main account is set to £100, so anything under £100 just requires a tap to pay. One of my secondary accounts allows you to turn off tap to pay meaning that every transaction requires you to insert the card and enter your PIN.
Most card based fraud is classed as card not present - iffy transactions on t'internet etc. so the protection on physical cards has been turned down, the cynic in me says this is probably a cost cutting measure too. Modern cards usually have some sort of hologram.
Cash in a cashless world
24 Jan 2026 · Cash, Cashless, Security
