Is it time to get rid of 1p and 2p coins?
Chancellor Philip Hammond will this week rule on the future of 1p and 2p coins, a year after he called them “obsolete”.
In his Spring Statement in 2018, a Treasury consultation about the mix of coins in circulation appeared to pave the way for the end of both of them.
A swift reverse by the Prime Minister’s official spokesman declared there were no plans to scrap the copper coins.
The Treasury has declined to comment on a report that there will be a reprieve.
But it confirmed that “the result of the review will be announced shortly”.
That Treasury consultation document said surveys suggested six-in-10 of UK 1p and 2p coins were only used once before being put in a jar or discarded, while one-in-12 were thrown into a bin.
The value of the 1p coin has also been reduced by inflation so, in effect, the 1p coin is now worth less than the halfpenny when it was abolished in 1984.
What are your views? Is your purse weighted down by these bronze coloured coins? Do you collect them in a jar and cash them in? Is it time for them to be taken out of circulation? Or do you think they should remain? Could prices increase if they went?
