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Penny-a-week Fund

One of the most successful ways of obtaining money was the Penny-a-Week fund.
The main function was to obtain from wage earners a voluntary contribution of one penny per week, to be deducted from their pay, at a time when the average weekly wage was £10. This was supplemented by collecting cards and house-to-house collections.
Rural areas were covered by the ‘rural pennies scheme’, which was organised through the Agriculture Committee.
Within six months of the scheme being introduced in November 1939, the Fund was receiving £6,000 a week, contributed by about 1,400,00 employees in 15,000 firms. By July 1940 this had grown to £14,000 a week, and this figure continued to rise.
In late 1942 the employees were given the opportunity to raise their contribution to two pence a week.