The Bank of England is today announcing that the next £5 and £10 
banknotes will be printed on polymer, a thin flexible plastic film, 
rather than on the cotton paper used for notes currently in issue.

The new polymer notes will retain the familiar look of Bank of England 
banknotes, including the portrait of Her Majesty the Queen and a 
historical character.  The first polymer note will be the £5 note 
featuring Sir Winston Churchill and will be issued in 2016.  It will be 
followed around a year later by a polymer £10 note featuring Jane Austen.

The decision follows a three-year research programme by the Bank looking 
at the materials on which banknotes are printed, and which concluded 
that there were compelling reasons to move to printing on polymer.  In 
particular, the research indicated that:

http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/Pages/default.aspx