BoE group reviews banknote imagery consultation results
The Bank of England's Banknotes Imagery Advisory Group (BIAG) reviewed preliminary public consultation results on future banknote themes at its August 5, 2025 meeting. The group also agreed on the approach for using focus groups to gather further public sentiment.
Public weighs in on banknote themes
The public consultation for the next banknote series (Series H) saw significant engagement, with over 43,000 responses and more than 100,000 votes across six themes.
'Nature' received the most votes, closely followed by 'Architecture and Landmarks', with 'Historic figures' ranking third.
The Bank actively monitored response rates and conducted targeted outreach to underrepresented groups.
The Advisory Group underscored the Bank's public sector equality duty, emphasizing the need to consider equality and diversity in banknote imagery, regardless of the theme.
Discussions included how themes could symbolize the UK, encompassing diverse backgrounds and regions.
Initial analysis of 19,000 free-text responses primarily offered specific image and design suggestions, rather than new theme proposals.
Refining themes through public focus groups
To deepen public sentiment insights, the Bank is tendering for focus groups.
These groups will explore perceptions of the two most popular themes – 'Nature' and 'Architecture and Landmarks' – identifying preferred sub-themes and images.
They will also assess the potential for celebrating diversity within these top themes and gauge public openness to combining them.
Furthermore, the focus groups will investigate appetite for changing other design aspects, such as banknote orientation.
The Advisory Group agreed to reconvene once these qualitative research efforts are complete, with the aim of recommending a final theme to the Governor.
Initial discussions also covered factors for shaping the approach to image selection for the chosen theme.