Insurer Sets out Savings Recommendations

A major new report from a UK insurance provider has recommended a complete overhaul in government financial education, in order to encourage the general public to save more.

Research conducted by Scottish Widows for its new Savings and Investments Report found that ministers were not currently doing enough to "encourage" people to put money by. Generally, it was found that this reluctance was strongest among those who earned less than £20,000 per year.

In addition, financial firms were found not to be providing sufficiently simple and clear information about their savings products, which led many people to be put off from taking out an account. Equity-based products, such as stocks and shares ISAs, were found to be particularly guilty of this.

Gordon Greig, head of savings and investments at Scottish Widows, commented: "The second Scottish Widows Savings and Investments Report demonstrates the need to understand people's attitudes to saving, and highlight what needs to be done to encourage the nation to save. People are finding it increasingly difficult to save. There are two main reasons for this - either lack of spare funds or the perception that products are too complicated.

"Scottish Widows is committed to encouraging and enabling people to save and we look forward to working with the government, the regulators, our customers and the general public to achieve this."

Research from Nationwide, released yesterday, showed that just 26 percent of Britons consider putting money in a savings account as "very important". The previous month, this figure stood at 48 percent.