Nearly 1.6bn old round £1 coins have been returned to The Royal Mint since the ‘most secure’ 12-sided replacement landed in our pockets in March 2017.

It added that since 2017, approximately 1.45m counterfeit £1 coins have been returned.

But an estimated 105.5 million are still unaccounted for, while around 138m round £1 coins have been melted down to help create some of the newer coins.

The old coins lost their legal tender status in October 2017, though anyone with these knocking around can still take them to their banks to be exchanged.

The latest statistics are correct as at 7 January 2022 and were given in response to a Freedom of Information request to BBC Wales.

YourMoney.com made a similar request for information in 2020 where it was revealed 130m old round £1 coins were still unaccounted for.

Paper notes still in circulation

Separate figures from the Bank of England revealed a total of £19bn in old paper £5, £10, £20 and £50 notes are still in circulation as at 25 February 2022:

The Bank of England added that all genuine banknotes that have been withdrawn from circulation retain their face value for all time. There is no expiry on the period in which it will exchange old banknotes.

If you have a UK bank account, you can normally deposit them with your provider. The Post Office may also accept withdrawn notes as payment for goods and services or as a deposit into any bank account you can access with it.

Alternatively, you can exchange withdrawn notes by posting them to the Bank of England, sent ‘at your own risk’ or in person at The Bank of England Counter at Threadneedle Street, London, EC2R 8AH. Make sure to take valid ID and take note of its opening hours – 9:30am to 3pm Monday to Friday.