New 10p coin pieces featuring King Charles III and a capercaillie are entering circulation across the UK for the first time in about four years. The release includes 6.5 million coins dated 2026 and 600,000 dated 2023, sent to banks and post offices nationwide.
Rebecca Morgan, director at The Royal Mint in Llantrisant, South Wales, said: "It's a stark reminder that more of these coins will enter circulation than there are capercaillies left in the wild". She also said: "We hope that by putting this extraordinary bird into millions of pockets and purses, we can spark a nationwide conversation about a species at real risk of vanishing from Britain forever."
The Royal Mint in Llantrisant
The coin's reverse side shows the capercaillie, the world's largest grouse, and the bird is found in a small part of Scotland and threatened with extinction. The design is based on an illustration by Mike Langman, who previously worked for The RSPB.
The new pieces are part of a redesigned set unveiled in October 2023 to celebrate King Charles's love of the natural world. Across the 1p to the £2 range, newly minted coins now carry flora and fauna on the tails side, while King Charles III coins had earlier appeared only on the 5p, 50p and £1.
Coins in the UK
There are 1.4 billion 10p coins in circulation, which helps explain why the change has reached cash use only after a long gap. King Charles III coins still make up about 1% of the 24.1 billion coins in circulation across the UK, and old coins with Queen Elizabeth II can still be used.
For shoppers and banks, the practical change is simple: the new 10p coins are now moving through everyday cash change after being released to banks and post offices, with both 2023 and 2026 dated pieces in use. That puts the new portrait and the capercaillie into ordinary spending before the public has any need to look for a separate exchange process.
The sharper question is how quickly the two dated batches reach tills and purses. The mint has started the flow; the coins now have to move through the cash system the usual way, one payment at a time.
