Notes and coin comprises sterling notes and coin in circulation outside the Bank of England (including those held in banks' and building societies' tills). Notes and coin, as presented here, differs from the series within M4 and other balance sheet statistics because it is compiled as an average of weekly observations (as opposed to an end-month position) and because it includes all holdings of notes and coin, not only those held by the non-bank, non-building society private sector.
Since 2006, authorised banks and building societies have been entitled to place cash deposits (reserves balances) at the Bank of England earning interest at Bank Rate. These deposits are voluntary and, when the Bank is operating a reserves averaging regime to implement monetary policy, are subject to a target level chosen by the account holder, which they must meet on average over a maintenance period lasting from one scheduled MPC announcement date to another.
Notes and Coin and reserves balances data series are published monthly on the
Interactive Database. The codes are as follows:
| Series |
Code |
Notes and coin
(seasonally adjusted) |
Amounts outstanding |
AVAB |
| Changes |
AVAG |
| 1 month growth rate |
VQUT |
| 3 month (annualised) growth rate |
VQUV |
| 12 month growth rate |
VQUU |
Reserves balances
(not seasonally adjusted) |
Amounts outstanding |
BL22 |
| Changes |
BL23 |
| 1 month growth rate |
BL24 |
| 3 month (annualised) growth rate |
BL25 |
| 12 month growth rate |
BL27 |
Further background information is available in Explanatory Notes
Explanatory notes Additional detail Selected series and splits of the data are also available in section A of the
Bankstats tables 
Table A1.1.1 Queries If you have any comments/queries with regard to this release
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Pre release access Details of pre-release access to these data are available in PDF format
Pre-release access Next release date: 01 June 2016