Innovia Group is planning to bid for the contract to supply the base material for the UK’s first polymer £20 bank notes.

The Wigton firm is the world leader in polymer banknote technology.

Its Guardian substrate is used in 24 countries, and has been chosen for the Bank of England’s £5 and £10 polymer notes.

The £5 note, featuring Winston Churchill, enters circulation in September followed by a £10 note depicting Jane Austen in 2017.

This should put Innovia Security – the group’s specialist banknote division – in a strong position to win the contract for £20 notes.

A decision is expected by the end of the year.

Innovia Group’s chief executive, Mark Robertshaw, said: “The total number of notes in the UK and US is still increasing.

“Post the financial crisis people have been a little bit more uncertain about banks and like to have a bit of safety store in cash.”

Innovia also plans to buy an Australian maker of secure inks as central banks increasingly opt to replace paper currency.

It has agreed to take over Barroven, a firm based in Sydney that makes coloured inks and toners.

Mr Robertshaw said: “The big growth story for us is that 97 per cent of the world’s banknotes are on paper. That’s our opportunity, to convert those into polymer.”

The Bank of England will unveil the polymer £5 next month, as it launches a campaign to educate the public about the benefits of polymer banknotes ahead of their introduction in the autumn.

Mr Robertshaw added: “Guardian has been shown to dramatically reduce the level of counterfeits and it lasts three to five times longer than paper. It’s clean, waterproof and recyclable, so it’s a green product.”

Because the notes last longer, the move to polymer should save the Bank of England £10m a year.

Each note will incorporate one or more transparent windows to make them harder to counterfeit.

And a hand-held device, the Verus, can check if the polymer is Innovia’s Clarity C, instantly identifying forgeries printed on any other polymer.

Innovia will produce the material for two billion Bank of England bank notes over the next five years.

The company has spent £15m setting up a new production line at Wigton, which uses its unique “bubble” process to make Clarity C.

This will be coated at a purpose-built opacification plant at Wigton before the material is sent for printing at a De La Rue’s high-security banknote press at Debden in Essex.

Overall, Innovia has invested £40m at Wigton and created 80 jobs.