Despite the Royal Mints efforts to withdraw counterfeit £1 coins at cash centres, a survey undertaken by themselves in November 2013 found that the rate had risen from 2.74% to 3.04%, that’s despite withdrawing an estimated 2 million fakes during the year?

In March 2014, the Chancellor revealed that the HM Treasury believed there was now a strong case for introducing a new £1 coin to help reduce counterfeiting and ensure the integrity of the UK’s currency.

However, the Royal Mint had not yet finished the design of the coin and announced that ‘’A public consultation will be held over the summer before a final decision will be made on the precise specification of the new coin ''.

At the same time they announced that a public design competition will be held to choose the reverse design of the coin, which they expected to be introduced in 2017.

The new £1 coin is constructed from two different coloured metals and contains a revolutionary new high security coinage currency system developed by The Royal Mint.

This new technology enables not just coins, but the whole cash cycle to be more secure, protecting the public, vending machine operators, retailers, and the wider banking system.

Andrew Mills, The Royal Mint’s Director of Circulating Coin, said, “The development of our high security coinage currency project has enabled us to develop a new generation of low cost, high security, plated coin with multiple levels of banknote-strength security built in. It will enable enhanced security throughout the cash cycle, from vending, parking, retail, and banking.”

This system is the culmination of a period of intense research and development by The Royal Mint’s in-house team, and has seen an investment of over £2m to date, with a significant amount more planned over the next couple of years as the system technology is commercialised.

Counterfeit £1 Coins