The result of these discussions was reported by the Finance Sub-Committee in February 1928. The report's main element being a proposal
that the Bank take over entire responsibility for the School Savings Banks:
Your Sub-Committee have had before them particulars
of correspondence which has taken place between the General Manager and Dr Innes, the Chief Education Officer, regarding the proposed
transfer of the School Savings Bank work to the Bank Committee. The following conditions under which the transfer might be made were
submitted; it being understood that the proposals are subject to confirmation by the Elementary Education Sub-Committee and
also to the matter being reviewed after the views of the Head Teachers have been ascertained:
1. From the official date of the transfer, the Municipal Bank Committee to accept entire responsibility for the conduct of the School
Savings Bank.
2. The work connected with the conduct of the School Savings Bank
in each Department must be timetabled, and no member of the staff will undertake any banking work outside the time allotted to the
Bank in the school timetable. As a corollary to this, teachers cannot be required to perform work outside school hours.
3. The Municipal Bank Committee will accept financial responsibility so far as moneys deposited by school children in the School Savings
Bank, pass through the teachers.
4. Instructions to teachers upon School Savings
Bank matters will be issued under the joint signatures of the General Manager of the Municipal Bank and of the Chief Education Officer.
The teachers will remain the officers of the Education Committee, and any action on questions of discipline, criticism of method or
lack of zeal, and reproofs, can only be taken by the Education Committee.
5. The Municipal Bank Committee to undertake that no additional clerical work shall be placed upon the teaching staff over and above
that involved in the maintenance of the existing School Savings Bank. Teachers are not to be expected to make weekly "casts" of deposits,
and the responsibility for making transfers - or notifying the Municipal Bank when such transfers should be made - not to be placed
upon the teachers.
6. Officers of the Bank Committee to have the right of entry
to the Schools for banking purposes only, and such right to be limited to the periods set aside in the timetable for School Savings
Bank matters.
7. The Municipal Bank Committee to provide the Education Committee
with an annual return showing the number of School depositors, and the sums deposited and withdrawn during the year.
Your Sub-Committee
after full consideration are of the opinion that various points raised by the Bank have been reasonably met by the Education Committee,
and they recommend that the proposals above set out, be accepted as the basis for the transfer of School Savings Bank work to the
Municipal Bank.
Although the Bank and Education Committees appear to have agreed that responsibility for the School Savings Bank
should be transferred, such transfer did not go ahead as indicated by the following statement in the Annual Report for the year ended March
31st 1928:
The work carried out by teachers in the elementary schools in connection with school savings banks has continued on
lines as heretofore. The Education Committee and Bank Committee have given attention to schemes for improving this important organization,
and it is hoped that results in the future will be more satisfactory.
It is probable that such a major change did not occur due
to opposition from the teachers. Instead, the Bank concentrated on attempting to increase the proportion of amounts being transferred
to accounts with the Bank and, in December 1928, the Education Committee agreed (that from July 31st 1929), all sums of £1 and upwards
deposited in the accounts of scholars be transferred to personal accounts in the Municipal Bank. Prior to that implementation date,
the Bank's Annual Report for 1929 stated that:
the valuable services in the cause of thrift rendered by teachers in the elementary
schools of the City calls for a word of appreciation. Week by week the teachers conduct these school banks, and assist the younger
generation to realise the value and advantages of thrift. The association of the School Savings Banks with the Municipal Bank is most
valuable, and thanks are due to the teachers for their co-operation in this work.
The following year's Annual Report (1930) confirmed
that the '£1 transfer' system had been introduced and repeated the expression of appreciation to the teachers:
In connection
with the savings banks conducted by the teachers in our elementary schools, we have introduced a transfer system whereby the amount
in the scholar's account, when it reaches one pound, is transferred to a depositor's account in the Municipal Bank. The aim of this
scheme is to bring the scholar into direct contact with the Municipal Bank during school life, in the hope that the valuable teaching
and practice of thrift during school life will be continued after the child leaves school. Our experience of the system during the
last eight months of the year leads us to think the scheme will prove a great success. We are indebted to the teachers for the interest
they take in the work, and desire to express our warm thanks to them for the valuable assistance they render.
However, these
words of appreciation may have given one teacher the encouragement to seek some reward, as reported by the Finance Sub-Committee:
Your
Sub-Committee report that some time ago an application was received from one of the teachers raising the question as to some payment
being made in respect of the work performed in connection with the School Savings Banks.
Your Sub-Committee have given careful
consideration to the question of making a contribution to the benevolent fund of a representative association of the teachers, and
have caused inquiries to be made into the matter. It has been ascertained, however, that there are 3,031 members of the Birmingham
Association of the National Union of Teachers, and that the number of teachers who are members of six other associations is approximately
1,000. Your Sub-Committee have arrived at the conclusion that in view of such figures it would not be desirable for the Bank to contribute
to the largest Association to the exclusion of the others and consequently in view of the large number of Associations involved, they
do not recommend that any contribution should be made.
The Bank Committee agreed with the recommendation that no contribution
should be paid.
The revised scheme incorporating the '£1 transfer' rule proved a success in ensuring that a reasonable proportion
of the amount saved by scholars was deposited in a BMB account, as the figures reproduced below illustrate. But, after a period of
twenty years, the Bank's direct involvement with the Education Department came to an end following the outbreak of the Second World
War.
The outbreak of the War was the probable reason why the year-ended March 31st 1940 saw withdrawals in the Schools Savings
Banks exceed deposits by £5,992. The Annual Report for that year commented that:
for the duration of the war the Education Committee
have introduced into the schools a scheme for saving by means of savings stamps for the ultimate purchase of Savings Certificates,
and this scheme will run side by side with the School Savings Banks.
The savings stamps referred to were issued by the National
Savings movement and became a popular method during the War to accumulate funds to purchase National Savings Certificates. The stamp/certificate
combination effectively replaced the School Savings Banks as the War progressed.
After the War, as from January 1948, a new Schools
Savings Scheme was adopted by the Birmingham Education Committee. This new scheme was based on the teachers selling BMB Coupons to
their pupils - the BMB Coupons effectively replacing the National Savings Stamps, as reported in the Bank's 1948 Annual Report:
The
new Schools Savings Scheme adopted by the Birmingham Education Committee as from January last, under which scholars' savings may be
either deposited in the Birmingham Municipal Bank or used for the purchase of National Savings Certificates, is proving popular with
scholars and has made a promising start. The scheme is simple and entails the minimum amount of work on the part of the teachers.
The Bank Committee wish to express their thanks to the teachers for their valuable help and co-operation.
BMB Coupons were issued
in 5 denominations, as reported in the 1949 Annual Report.
|
3d., |
41,536 |
|
6d. |
238,637 |
|
1/- |
190,784 |
|
2/6 |
85,077 |
|
5/- |
19,576 |
|
Total Value |
£31,552.
19s. 0d. |
The re-introduction of Coupons (the basic system used by the temporary Birmingham Corporation Savings Bank during
the First World War) is detailed separately – see BMB Coupons. This method of encouraging scholars to save (plus other schemes introduced
later - School Banks and Term-end schemes), and the associated co-operation between the Bank and the Education Committee, ceased when
the BMB was no longer a department of the Corporation.