How do new coins get to the banks?

Over 26,000 million coins are estimated to be in circulation in the United Kingdom. The Royal Mint issues new coins to a small number of cash centres which are operated on behalf of the major banks and post offices. These cash centres, in turn, distribute coins to local branches of banks and post offices in order to satisfy demand from business customers and members of the public.

If demand for a particular denomination can be met from stocks of coins held within the banking sector, then the banks will not need to draw new coins from The Royal Mint. If, on the other hand, new coins are required and The Royal Mint holds stocks of previous years' dated coins then these are placed into general circulation before the current year dated coins are released.