Five years of decimal coinage

It was all change to a decimal currency on 15 February 1971. But it wasn't just the younger generation who had to get used to new calculations and coins. It affected everyone. Because of the tremendous amount of careful planning which had gone on beforehand, the change-over from the pounds, shillings and pence system that had been in existence since Anglo-Saxon times to the new decimal coinage was almost the non-event of 1971. In some ways the old system might seem quite strange with twelve pennies in a shilling and twenty shillings in one pound but to those of us who grew up using �sd it was quite natural.

A change had been in prospect for over 100 years. But it was not until 1961 that the Government appointed Lord Halsbury to chair a Committee of Inquiry to advise on how the currency might be decimalised. By 1963 the Committee had reported and in 1966 the Government finally announced the decision to go ahead. So the suggestion of change was by no means sudden.

The Decimal Currency Board, formed to oversee decimalisation, did a marvellous job to allay any fear of confusion, helped by the fact that the change-over was mainly by evolution rather than by a sudden revolution.

The pound retained its value, the penny remained in name and the shilling and florin had been re-denominated as the new 5p and 10p coins. In fact on D-Day itself only three new coins entered circulation: the 2p, 1p and 1/2p joining the 5p and 10p pieces introduced in April 1968, followed by the 50p which was first seen in 1969.