Records created by the National War Savings Committee, later National Savings Committee...

Division within NSC

1889-1978

Surviving records of the National Savings Committee relate to the administrative and publicity functions of the Committee, and include a small amount of material from branches.

Minute books of the National Organising Committee, the Central Advisory Committee and the National War Savings Committee are in NSC 1, committee files are in NSC 7, finance files in NSC 29, administrative files in NSC 18, printed annual reports in NSC 2, and papers relating to local committees in NSC 34.

Establishment files are in NSC 17, personal files and papers of secretaries of the National Savings Committee are in NSC 36, and staff instructions are in NSC 31.

Printed bulletins of the savings movement are in NSC 3, weekly campaign circulars and newsletters in NSC 4, photographs in NSC 32, posters in NSC 5, leaflets in NSC 6, bulletins of statistics etc in NSC 40 and badges etc in NSC 41. Publicity Material is in NSC 33.

Records of HM Forces Branch are in NSC 28 and records of the South-East Regional Office are in NSC 30.

Original Publicity Artwork in NSC 63.

Records of the National Savings Committee for Scotland are deposited in the Scottish Record Office under the Public Records Act 1958.

Public Record(s)

English

• National Savings Committee, 1919-1978
• National War Savings Committee, 1916-1919

20 series

Topics

Art, architecture and design

Government finances

Badges and insignia

Official publications

The National Savings Movement was founded in the autumn of 1915 when the Committee on War Loans for Small Investors, was appointed to consider means of encouraging the public to save money to help the war effort. In January 1916 the committee advocated the organisation of local voluntary savings associations and the introduction of 'war savings deposits', later designated 'war savings certificates', and now as 'national savings certificates'.

By a Treasury minute of 8 February 1916 two committees were set up: the National Organising Committee for War Savings and the Central Advisory Committee for War Savings. In April 1916 these two committees were combined as the National War Savings Committee. The title was changed to the National Savings Committee on 29 September 1919. Separate organisations were set up for Scotland and Ireland.

The aim of the National Savings Committee was to maintain throughout England and Wales an organisation to encourage the public to save by investment in national savings securities and deposits in the National (formerly Post Office) and Trustee Savings Banks.

Until 1969 the committee was directly responsible to the Treasury, which issued the securities with which the committee was mainly concerned: national savings certificates, national development (formerly defence) bonds and premium savings bonds.

The National Committee, assisted by committees at national and regional levels dealing with particular aspects of its work, controlled the activities of some 1300 local savings committees whose function it was to organise publicity for national savings and to promote the formation of savings groups run by voluntary workers.

In 1969 the civil service staff serving the National Savings Committee were integrated with the staff of the new Department for National Savings which had replaced the former Post Office Savings Department when the Post Office Corporation was established under the Post Office Act 1969.

From 1976, as part of the government's programme to reduce Civil Service manpower, staff support facilities provided by the Department for National Savings were withdrawn. In the light of this, the National Savings Committee decided it could no longer function effectively and the organisation was finally wound up in March 1978.