National Savings and Investments Annual Report and Accounts and Product Accounts 2015–16

145 Pages·2016·5.38 MB·English

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National Savings and Investments
Annual Report and Accounts and Product Accounts 2015–16
HC345
National Savings and Investments
Annual Report and Accounts and Product Accounts 2015–16
NS&I is a non-ministerial government department and an Executive Agency of the Chancellor
of the Exchequer.
Accounts presented to the House of Commons pursuant to section 6 (4) of the Government
Resources and Accounts Act 2000.
Product Accounts presented to the House of Commons pursuant to section 7 (3) (c) of the
Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000.
Annual Report presented to the House of Commons by Command of Her Majesty.
Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed on 30 June 2016.
HC345
This is part of a series of departmental publications which, along with the Main Estimates 2016–17
and the document Public Expenditure: Statistical Analyses 2016, present the Government’s outturn
for 2015–16 and planned expenditure for 2016–17.
© Crown copyright 2016
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where
otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-
licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9
4DU, or email: [email protected].
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission
from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at www.gov.uk/government/publications.
Any enquiries regarding this publication should be sent to us at [email protected] or NS&I,
Glasgow G58 1SB.
Print ISBN 9781474132831
Web ISBN 9781474132848
ID 20160513 06/16
Printed on paper containing 75% recycled fibre content minimum.
Printed in the UK by the Williams Lea Group on behalf of the Controller of Her Majesty’s
Stationery Office.
Annual Report and Accounts and Product Accounts 2015–16
Contents
Section 1 – Performance Report
Who we are 4
– Chairman’s statement 5
– Chief Executive’s overview 7
– Strategy and performance 13
– Our customers 20
– Business-to-business customers 26
– Our operational partnership 28
– Our people 30
– Sustainability report 33
Section 2 – Accountability Report
Corporate governance report 39
– Directors’ report 39
– Statement of Accounting Officer’s responsibilities 41
– Governance statement 42
Remuneration and staff report 64
Parliamentary accountability and audit report 74
– Statement of Parliamentary Supply 74
– T he certificate and report of the Comptroller and Auditor General to the
80
House of Commons (Accounts)
– T he certificate and report of the Comptroller and Auditor General to the
82
House of Commons (Product Accounts)
Section 3 – Financial Statements
Accounts 2015–16
– Statement of comprehensive net expenditure 85
– Statement of financial position 86
– Statement of cash flows 87
– Statement of changes in taxpayers’ equity 88
– Notes to the Departmental Resource Accounts 89
Product Accounts 2015–16
– Product Accounts background 108
– Statement of comprehensive income 110
– Statement of financial position 111
– Statement of cash flows 112
– Notes to the accounts 113
– Annex 1: Product Accounts direction 129
Section 4 – Other Information
Departmental Report information 131
Glossary 136
Contacts and more information 141
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Section 1 Performance Report
Section 1
Performance Report
– Who we are 4
– Chairman’s statement 5
– Chief Executive’s overview 7
– Strategy and performance 13
– Our customers 20
– Business-to-business customers 26
– Our operational partnership 28
– Our people 30
– Sustainability report 33
nnssaannddii..ccoomm 33
Section 1 Performance Report
Who we are
NS&I is one of the largest savings organisations in the UK with over
25 million customers and more than £135 billion invested. NS&I is
both a government department and an Executive Agency of the
Chancellor of the Exchequer. Our origins can be traced back over
150 years to 1861.
When customers invest in NS&I products, they are lending to the
Government. In return the Government pays interest or prizes for
Premium Bonds. We offer 100% security on all deposits.
Our vision
Service, Value and Trust
Our mission
To help reduce the cost to the taxpayer of government borrowing
now and in the future.
Our values
Security, integrity, straightforwardness, human touch
Our values are at the heart of everything we do:
• Security: we offer 100% security, backed by HM Treasury.
• Integrity: we are honest and responsible in everything that we do and say.
• Straightforwardness: we always use clear, everyday language that is easy
to understand.
• Delivered with a human touch, pace and confidence: we treat our
customers as individuals, recognise their needs and act on their behalf
decisively and professionally.
Operating framework
To balance the interests of our savers by offering a fair rate;
the taxpayer by delivering long-term cost-effective finance; and
the stability of the broader financial services sector by acting
transparently and maintaining an appropriate competitive position.
4 NS&I Annual Report and Accounts and Product Accounts 2015–16
Section 1 Performance Report
Chairman’s statement
2015–16 has seen NS&I achieve impressive results. We successfully
delivered one of our largest annual contributions to government debt
financing in recent years, raising £11.3 billion of Net Financing – within
our target range of £8 billion to £12 billion. Furthermore, we again
proved a cost-effective means of doing so, delivering positive value
to the taxpayer in a time of fluctuating comparator gilt yields.
Equally important was the manner in which this performance was
delivered, with NS&I implementing the FCA Conduct rules and Senior
Managers’ Regime to clearly map out individual responsibilities and
ensure accountability across the business.
Three major projects – the closure of the offer for sale of 65+ Bonds; the increase in
the Premium Bonds maximum investment limit to £50,000; and the conclusion of
our distribution relationship with the Post Office® – were completed smoothly and in
quick succession. Our financial projections and forecasting proved highly accurate,
quarter on quarter, demonstrating a sound understanding of customer behaviour
and transparency to the financial services sector.
All of this was completed by a lean, effective and committed team of people across
NS&I and our outsource partners who balanced the delivery of major projects
alongside ‘business as usual’. I would like to thank each and every one of them.
We are a larger business in terms of total stock and transaction levels, but our
operating costs are lower.
This is a direct result of our long-term strategy, which has focused over a number
of years on becoming an evermore cost-effective, scalable operation. At the
heart of that strategy is our ambitious channel shift agenda: encouraging and
enabling customers to use lower-cost channels to interact with us. With the end of
commercial sales through the Post Office®, we are now a 100% direct business.
The transformation we have undertaken over the past decade has streamlined
our operation to an impressive degree. This year, NS&I’s efficiency ratio – how cost
effectively we manage the funds we hold – improved once again, falling from 14 to
12 basis points. This means that it costs NS&I 12 pence a year to manage each £100
of stock we hold. We believe that our efficiency ratio is some way ahead of many
banks and building societies in the same business areas.
However, improving on our efficiency presents certain challenges, not least in terms
of our 2015 Spending Review settlement under which our funding from the public
purse will be reduced by 25% in real terms by 2020. Our task will be to find where
else we can make savings. As well as promoting customer channel shift further
to reduce our operational costs, we will increasingly seek to fund our operations
through delivering payment processing to other government departments as
business-to-business services. It was therefore of immense importance to us and our
strategy when in July the Supreme Court ruled that government plans to use NS&I,
in partnership with HM Revenue and Customs, to deliver Tax-Free Childcare were
lawful. Work was able to proceed on the delivery of Tax-Free Childcare.
As our existing business-to-business partners demonstrate, we have been able to
drive down payment processing costs for each of them, while improving service
levels. In partnership with HM Revenue and Customs, we look forward to doing
the same for Tax-Free Childcare and the Department for Education’s extended free
entitlement, by delivering a joint application service.
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Section 1 Performance Report
These business-to-business activities and the income they generate are essential to
enable NS&I to grow and invest in improvements to the retail customer experience.
They provide ongoing efficiencies for the taxpayer as we become progressively self-
funding. Retail savers expect to be able to do business with us in the same ways they
can interact with banks and building societies. Wherever the experience drops below
expected benchmarks, it affects our customer satisfaction.
This year we have seen evidence of that, as satisfaction has dropped. One of the
prime reasons for this is our online authentication process, which has become
outdated. Enhancements to this, and other aspects of the digital customer
experience, are central to our plans for 2016–17, and we know that customer
expectations are constantly rising. Throughout the year, customer service levels for
timeliness and accuracy have been maintained.
In 2015–16 we saw some changes to the composition of the board. David Hulf
stood down as Non-executive Director and Chairman of the Audit and Risk
Committee after two full terms. David brought renewed rigour and professionalism
to his committee and to the board for which I and my board colleagues are
very grateful.
We are pleased to welcome Ed Anderson in his place. As a former Chairman of
Yorkshire Building Society, Ed brings very relevant knowledge of the sector but also
an insight into NS&I’s impact on retail savings. There have also been changes to the
HM Treasury team, which are set out in the Corporate Governance section of this
report. I would like to thank the former and new HM Treasury representatives
for their support.
Reflecting on a decade of growth and delivery as I have done here is also to
reflect on the leadership of NS&I’s Chief Executive, Jane Platt CBE. This May, Jane
announced her decision to stand down as Chief Executive effective from the end
of August 2016, after which she intends to focus on her role as a Non-executive
Director at the Financial Conduct Authority where she is also Chair of the External
Risk and Strategy Committee.
Since 2006 when she took charge, Jane has steered NS&I through a number of
significant milestones and has been a vital part of building our success and our
standing today as a trusted, cost-effective organisation that is valued both by our
retail customers and our partners in Government. We look forward to appointing
a successor in due course. Jane deserves huge thanks for her 10 years of service,
her leadership and her excellent stewardship of NS&I. I have valued our working
relationship immensely and wish her well for the future.

Sir John de Trafford Bt. MBE
Chairman
National Savings and Investments
For details of the board’s composition, committees and activities,
please see the Governance statement on pages 42 to 46.
6 NS&I Annual Report and Accounts and Product Accounts 2015–16
Section 1 Performance Report
Chief Executive’s overview
In 2015–16, NS&I again delivered one of our largest contributions
to government debt financing since the ‘flight to safety’ in 2008.
This was due in part to 65+ Bonds remaining on sale until
15 May 2015, proving to be the biggest selling retail financial
product in Britain’s modern history. Another factor driving inflows
was the further increase in the investment limit for Premium Bonds –
up from £40,000 to £50,000 from June 2015.
We completed our long-term plan to become a 100% direct business.
All products on sale are now available only directly from NS&I:
either online, by phone or by post. We have now also smoothly
managed the maturities of the 1-year 65+ Bonds for nearly half a
million customers. We also delivered £149 million for the taxpayer –
measured using our Value Indicator.
We pressed forward with our plans to become progressively
Net Financing
self-funding after the Supreme Court confirmed that the
Government’s decision to deliver Tax-Free Childcare through HM £20bn
£18.23bn
Revenue and Customs in partnership with NS&I was lawful. Our
2014–15
business-to-business services are now part and parcel of NS&I’s offer,
reducing costs for other parts of Government and delivering savings
for taxpayers.
Importantly, during this extremely busy year we have maintained
excellent levels of customer service in terms of timeliness and
accuracy. This has always been the primary benchmark against which
we measure ourselves and reflects the exceptional commitment of
£11.26bn
our people.
2015–16
Smooth and successful delivery £10bn
Our headline target for the year was the delivery of £10 billion of Net Financing,
in a range of £8 billion to £12 billion. This included an allowance for sales of 65+
Bonds in April and May 2015, together with previously announced plans to increase
the maximum investment limit in Premium Bonds from £40,000 to £50,000 in
June 2015.
£4.02bn
At 31 March 2016, NS&I had raised £11.3 billion for the Exchequer, within our 2011–12
£3.43bn
target range. NS&I also delivered £149 million of value for the taxpayer, despite the
2013–14
volatility of the comparator gilt yields.
Under ordinary circumstances, a Net Financing target on this scale might seem
daunting: it requires us to prepare for larger transaction volumes and to manage a
higher total stock. However, in the context of the activity at the end of 2014–15,
£0bn
when the launch of 65+ Bonds saw us take in more than £4 billion in a single week,
-£0.67bn
we felt well equipped for the operational challenge. In fact, our planning allowed us
2012–13
to build on each of the major milestones in the year to ensure smooth, efficient and
successful delivery.
The additional people we put in place to manage the closedown of 65+ Bonds sales
were retained, ready for the increase in the investment limit for Premium Bonds
which took place just two weeks later on 1 June. When NS&I’s business became
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