What was decimalisation

They were the same size, composition and value as the old shilling and florin 2 shilling coins, and circulated interchangeably with them.

In October a 50p coin was introduced, and as D-Day approached, the old halfpenny, half-crown, and 10 shilling notes were withdrawn from circulation. A major publicity campaign ran in the weeks before D-Day, preparing the British public for the coming change. Meanwhile, behind the scenes there was an enormous amount of work to be done if decimalisation was to happen smoothly.

A great deal of the responsibility fell upon banks. To enable them to change their cash, bookkeeping, machines and systems, they closed at 3. The bank was helped in its preparations for decimalisation by the relatively advanced state of its computerisation programme. These computers were able to undertake much of the branch-level work in the run-up to decimalisation, saving an estimated 6, branch staff from two weeks of intensive overtime. Staff had to be trained to understand the new currency, and to be as confident with it as they had come to feel in years — or even decades — of processing the old currency.

To help with this task, the British Bankers' Association had issued a series of booklets and exercises, plus a quick-reference cribsheet for cashiers.

Three new coins were to go into circulation on D-Day — halfpenny, one penny and twopenny pieces. Despite all the preparations, there were some operations that could not be undertaken until the right moment, during the changeover itself.

To keep their strength up, the head office canteen also stayed open all night to provide on-the-spot sustenance. NatWest faced even bigger challenges. Whilst Britain and our nearest neighbour Ireland did not convert to decimalisation until , this was not the first time Britain had considered decimalisation. As far back as Parliament had considered decimalising the British currency.

In ,the Decimal Association was founded in support of both decimalisation and use of the SI metric system, the international standard for physical measurements which had been adopted by France in the s and has since been widely introduced across the world although interestingly the metric system has still not been fully implemented in the UK.

However despite the introduction of the two shilling silver florin in , worth one-tenth of a pound, and the double florin a four-shilling piece in , there was little development towards decimalisation in Britain for nearly a century. Whilst various names for a new unit of currency had been suggested — such as the new pound, the royal or the noble — it was decided that as a reserve currency, the pound sterling was too important to lose. There are now only two countries in the world who officially continue to use non-decimal currencies.

Mauritania still employs the ouguiya, which is equal to five khoums and Madagascans use the ariary, which is equal to five iraimbilanja. Whilst many of our closest neighbours have succumbed to the simplicity of the Euro since its induction on 1 January , for now at least the majority of Britons remain faithful to the pound sterling.

Whether this is down to a sense of identity or the more altruistic suspicion that goods prices will rise dramatically or a combination of the two!

As with decimalisation then, perhaps in two hundred years time we will have decided our European counterparts are on to something! In this Diamond Jubilee year, our thoughts turn to what life was like in Britain 60 years ago.

Then in , a 50p coin was introduced to replace the shilling note. The 50p coin was referred to as a shilling coin at the time.

On Monday 15 February , the process was completed when the 0. The banks were closed for four days from the previous Thursday to prepare for the change-over.

One old coin that survived longer than expected was the sixpence. Worth 2. Dick Taverne, who was chief secretary to the Treasury a year before decimalisation said: "There was a passionate public campaign 'save our sixpence'. They said it was part of our heritage. It was thought a terrible thing to get rid of the sixpence.

It was a very emotive issue. Forty years on, those old coins are a distant memory for those in their 40s and beyond, and a puzzlement for those too young to have known them.

But pre-decimal pennies are still in use in one part of London where they have a vital role.