The UK Treasury has urged people not to be caught out when the current £1 coin becomes worthless later this year.

A new 12-sided pound coin comes into circulation in six weeks time in a bid to beat the forgers.

After that, we will have just eight and a half months to spend the old ones before they cease to be legal tender.

These are the key dates:

March 28 - new coin comes into circulation

October 15 - shops are told not to accept old £1 coins or distribute them in change

After October 15 - for a limited period, banks and post offices will still allow customers to deposit old £1 coins into their bank account

The Royal Mint is producing 1.5 billion of the new coins.

They are being introduced as around one in thirty £1 coins in circulation is fake.

Watford Observer:

The design:

The new design was created by Walsall schoolboy David Pearce, who was just 15 when he won the public competition.

His design shows the English rose, the Welsh leek, the Scottish thistle and the Northern Irish shamrock emerging from one stem within a royal coronet On the alternate side, the portrait of the Queen is the fifth to be done during her reign and was done by Royal Mint coin designer Jody Clark.

The size is also changing.

The new coin will be thinner, at 2.8mm.

It will also be lighter at 8.75g.

And it is larger at 23.43mm diameter.

This is the first time the £1 coin has been changed in over 30 years.

Around £1.3 billion worth of coins are stored in savings jars across the country, and the current £1 coin accounts for almost a third of these.