Consol (bond)

Consols (originally short for consolidated annuities, but subsequently taken to mean consolidated stock) were government debt issues in the form of perpetual bonds, redeemable at the option of the government.

In 1752 the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Prime Minister Sir Henry Pelham converted all outstanding issues of redeemable government stock into one bond, Consolidated 3.5% Annuities, in order to reduce the coupon (interest rate) paid on the government debt.

On 31 October 2014 the UK Government announced that it would redeem the 4% consols in full in early 2015.

[3] Section 124 of the Finance Act 2015 made the legal provisions for the ending of the consol.

[4] Given their long history, references to consols can be found in many places, including Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, The Notting Hill Mystery by Charles Warren Adams, Howards End by E. M. Forster, Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray, The Tuppenny Millionaire by P G Wodehouse, Of Human Bondage by William Somerset Maugham and The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy.