New 12-sided £1 coins start being made by Royal Mint

31 March 2016

The design for the obverse of the new 12-sided £1 coin, which has gone into production a year before it starts to reach people's pockets.

Pocket money may look a bit different this time next year because the £1 coin is changing.

The new one will have 12 sides instead of a smooth, rounded edge.

It's the first time the pound coin has been changed in more than 30 years.

The Royal Mint, who produce all of our coins, say the new design will make pound coins harder to illegally copy.

The design for the reverse of the new 12-sided £1 coin, which has gone into production a year before it starts to reach people's pockets.

The coins will not be available to use until March 2017.

But they've already started to be made by the Royal Mint with 4,000 coins being created every minute.

The current coins will not be out of date as soon as the new ones are released. There will be a six month period when both the old and the new pound coins can be used.

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