PEOPLE still using paper £20 notes are being warned they will soon not be able to purchase goods with their money.

In a year, the legal tender status will be withdrawn from paper £20 and £50 notes.

The new polymer £20 featuring JMW Turner and the £50 featuring Alan Turing will be the only form accepted by retailers.

Despite the newer polymer notes being released some time ago there is still approximately £9 billion worth of the old £20 notes in circulation.

Meanwhile the old paper £50 still make up £15 billion of notes in circulation.

The Bank of England has set a deadline for September 30 2022 for when the old paper notes will withdraw from legal tender.

After the deadline, people with a UK bank account will still be able to deposit the paper notes into their account while the Bank of England will still exchange all paper notes.

Statement from the Bank of England

The Bank of England's chief cashier, Sarah John, said: "In recent years we have been changing our banknotes from paper to polymer because this makes them more difficult to counterfeit, and means they are more durable.

"The polymer £20 featuring the artist JMW Turner, and the polymer £50 featuring the scientist Alan Turing are now in wide circulation, and we are in the process of withdrawing their paper equivalents."