National Savings and Investments (NS&I), formerly called the Post Office Savings Bank and National Savings, is a state-owned savings bank in the United Kingdom. It is both a non-ministerial government department[1] and an executive agency of HM Treasury.[2] The aim of NS&I has been to attract funds from individual savers in the UK for the purpose of funding the government's deficit. NS&I attracts savers through offering savings products with tax-free elements on some products, and a 100% guarantee from HM Treasury on all deposits. As of 2017, approximately 9% of the government's debt is met by funds raised through NS&I,[3] around half of which is from the Premium Bond offering.
History
National Savings and Investments was founded by the Palmerstongovernment (following a suggestion made by George Chetwynd, a clerk in the Money Order department of the General Post Office)[4] in 1861 as the Post Office Savings Bank, the world's first postal savings system. The aim of the bank was to allow ordinary workers a facility "to provide for themselves against adversity and ill-health", and to provide the government with access to debt funding. As an example, savings certificates were issued in the First and Second World Wars to help finance the war effort. On 1 June 1957, the Premium Bonds draws were inaugurated, using E.R.N.I.E. – the Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment machine (now located in the Science Museum).
An Act to consolidate certain enactments relating to the National Savings Bank, with amendments to give effect to recommendations of the Law Commission and the Scottish Law Commission.
In 1969, the bank was transferred from the Post Office to the Treasury. Its name was changed to National Savings Bank, and it gained an independent legal identity under the National Savings Bank Act 1971.[5] Despite its independence, it was used by Government in 1980 to fund a significant proportion of the public sector borrowing requirement. The then Director, Stuart Gilbert was given a target of £2 billion rising to £3.8 billion of the following three years to raise in National Savings - targets that were achieved.
The name was changed again in 2002 to National Savings and Investments.[6]
The previous graphic identity of NS&I, including the NS&I logotype, was created in 2005 by Lloyd Northover, the British design consultancy founded by John Lloyd and Jim Northover.[7] The identity was updated in 2020, however no public information has been released regarding this.
Headquarters
The Post Office Savings Bank initially operated from a room in the General Post Office building on St. Martin's Le Grand in the City of London.[8] By 1864 it had outgrown the space available there, so the Post Office took out a lease on a nearby warehouse at No. 27 St Paul's Churchyard. In the following years the business of the savings bank expanded, and further premises were acquired to the south, linked to the old warehouse by a bridge across Little Carter Lane.[8] In the 1870s, with the lease on these buildings due to expire, work began on a new purpose-built Central Post Office Savings Bank building further to the south in Queen Victoria Street. The building had five floors plus a basement; the public business of the Savings Bank was conducted on the ground floor, and the clerks had their offices on the upper floors.[9] An extension was built to the north, in Carter Lane, in 1890-94 by Sir Henry Tanner;[10] but soon afterwards work began on a new headquarters in West Kensington: Blythe House, where the Post Office Savings Bank took up residence in 1903. (The premises on Queen Victoria Street and Carter Lane became a telephone exchange; the Faraday Building now stands on the site).
The Post Office Savings Bank continued to occupy Blythe House until the early 1970s; however it was announced in 1963 that its
main centre of operations would be decentralised to Glasgow. A small headquarters staff remained in London, moving to Charles House on Kensington High Street.[11]
Role
In 2017, NS&I managed around £150 billion in savings.[12] Funds from NS&I have historically been a relatively cheap source of government borrowing. NS&I sets interest rates both to attract savers and provide low-cost finance for the government, and 100% of any individual's savings are guaranteed by HM Treasury; rules are in place to ensure that it does not offer market-leading products that would stifle competition.[13]
Operations
NS&I's head office is within the Department of Education building, in Westminster, London; with operational sites in Blackpool, Glasgow, and Durham. However, its back office and customer services operations are contracted out.
NS&I first outsourced out its operations in 1999 to Siemens Business Services; some 4,000 staff were transferred to Siemens, leaving 130 NS&I staff responsible for the design, management and marketing of products, and managing the relationship with Siemens.[14] A 2000 report by the National Audit Office stated that the contract was better value than keeping the operations in-house, and suggested other government departments could learn from the way this public-private partnership was procured and managed.[14] The Siemens business unit was acquired by French company Atos in 2011,[15] and by 2023 the number of staff involved had reduced to just over 1,600.[16]
The Atos contract was renewed for a further seven years in 2014, then extended to March 2024. In November 2023, a six-year customer services contract was awarded to Sopra Steria, another French company, after Atos missed performance targets.[17]
In the past the bank offered many of its services through post offices, but in November 2011 it was announced that most products would only be available by phone, online, or by post; Premium Bonds would be the only remaining product sold in post offices.[18] From August 2015, NS&I stopped selling Premium Bonds through post offices, and became a purely direct business.[19]
Products
NS&I offers a wide range of savings and investment products, specialising in tax-free and income-generating products. As of December 2019 the following are offered:[20]
