Halfpenny (British decimal coin) Halfpenny (British decimal coin) The British decimal halfpenny (p) coin was introduced in February 1971, at the time of decimalisation, and was worth one two-hundredth of a pound sterling. It was ignored in banking transactions, which were carried out in units of 1p. The decimal halfpenny had the same value as 1.2 pre-decimal pence, and was introduced to enable the prices of some low-value items to be more accurately translated to the new decimal currency. The possibility of setting prices including an odd half penny also made it more practical to retain the pre-decimal sixpence in circulation (with a value
Decimal Day for some time before and after. Prior to Decimal Day the double pricing was displayed as e.g. "1s (5p)"; from Decimal Day the order was switched to "5p (1s)". For example, this order was used on most football programmes during the 1970–71 season. High denomination (10p, 20p, and 50p) stamps were issued on 17 June 1970. Post offices were issued with very simple training stamps in the same colours as the upcoming decimal stamps. Exceptions to the 15 February introduction were British Rail and London Transport, which went decimal one day early, the former urging customers, if they chose to