Convert pence to pounds sterling and back, write UK prices correctly and work out what old shillings and pence are worth in today's decimal money.
100p = £1
Since decimalisation in 1971, the pound sterling has been divided into 100 pence. Divide pence by 100 to get pounds (185p is £1.85), and multiply pounds by 100 to get pence (£2.99 is 299p).
UK convention uses either the £ sign or the p, never both. Amounts under a pound use p with no space. Amounts of a pound or more use £ with two decimal places, or none for whole pounds.
| Write | Avoid |
|---|---|
| 50p | £0.50p, 50 p, .50p |
| £1.50 | £1.50p, 150p (fine, but unusual on prices) |
| £12 | £12.00p |
| £2.99 | £2.99p |
In speech, one coin is a "penny" and the amount is "pence", often shortened to "p": "a 2p coin", "fifty pence".
| Coin | Pence | Pounds |
|---|---|---|
| 1p coin | 1p | £0.01 |
| 2p coin | 2p | £0.02 |
| 5p coin | 5p | £0.05 |
| 10p coin | 10p | £0.10 |
| 20p coin | 20p | £0.20 |
| 50p coin | 50p | £0.50 |
| £1 coin | 100p | £1.00 |
| £2 coin | 200p | £2.00 |
UK shops must show a unit price, but different products often use different units: one label says 30p per 100 g, another says £2.75 per kg. Which pasta is cheaper?
Step 1: Put both in pence
Step 2: Use the same weight
The 1 kg bag works out at 27.5p per 100 g, so it's 2.5p per 100 g cheaper than the 30p option. Unit prices can include part-pence, which is why the converter accepts decimals.
Before Decimal Day on 15 February 1971, a pound was 20 shillings, and each shilling was 12 pennies. That made 240 old pence (written d) to the pound, against 100 new pence today. One new penny is worth 2.4 old pence.
| Old coin or note | Old pence (d) | Decimal value |
|---|---|---|
| Penny (1d) | 1 | 0.4167p |
| Threepence (3d) | 3 | 1.25p |
| Sixpence (6d) | 6 | 2.5p |
| Shilling (1s) | 12 | 5p |
| Florin (2s) | 24 | 10p |
| Half crown (2s 6d) | 30 | 12.5p |
| Ten-shilling note (10s) | 120 | 50p |
| Pound (£1) | 240 | 100p |
These are face-value equivalents only. They don't account for inflation since 1971.
100. Before 1971 there were 240 pennies in a pound.
"Penny" is a single coin or one unit ("a penny", "1p"). "Pence" is the plural amount ("5 pence"). "Pennies" means several individual 1p coins.
Not at the till. The halfpenny coin was withdrawn in 1984. Fractions of a penny still appear in unit prices, fuel prices and exchange rates, but bills are rounded to whole pence.
No. It only converts within sterling, where the rate is always 100 to 1. Use a live exchange rate for other currencies.
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