A new redesigned plastic £50 note will replace the current one as the Bank of England announced its plan not to scrap the note complete.

Fears that the largest denomination usually used by criminals and rarely for ordinary purchases had prompted a proposal to abolish it.

Ministers said the new version, to be printed in the UK, would be more durable, secure and harder to forge. Polymer £5 and £10 notes are already in circulation, while a £20 design will be issued in 2020.

There are currently 330 million £50 notes in circulation, with a combined value of £16.5bn, the bank said.

A review in March by the Treasury states that £50 notes were “rarely used” for routine transactions.

“There is also a perception among some that £50 notes are used for money laundering, hidden economy activity, and tax evasion,” The Treasury said.

With the planned redesign also means a big decision on which famous Briton will selected to be on the reverse of the note.

Steam engine pioneers James Watt and Matthew Boulton appear on the current £50, issued in 2011. The Bank of England now has a committee which asks for public nominations in a chosen field.

In 2015, 30,000 people nominated 590 famous visual artists for the £20 note, before JMW Turner was selected with the help of focus groups.

The prescription checks are part of a series of measures intended to prevent £300m of fraud by April 2020. Fraud is estimated to cost the NHS £1.2bn a year, or about 1% of its total budget.