moneysupermarket.com speak on the Treasury Select Committee advice to up savings levels

Commenting on the Treasury Select Committee's recommendation of a National Savings Gateway aimed at boosting the savings levels for low-income families

Kevin Mountford, head of savings and current accounts at price comparison website moneysupermarket.com, said: "Any initiative that encourages people to save more is always to be applauded but I firmly believe it's financial education that will make the real difference rather than financial products themselves".

"Free ATMs per se aren't going to make people take out a bank account, education as to why they need to have a bank account and the different ones that are available to them will encourage this".

"The proposed Savings Gateway would tie up the combined savings pot for five years, but who's to say the money wouldn't just be spent at the end of that period? "The principles behind this initiative are sound but it's important to remember that any campaign needs to be easy to understand in order to drive the message home.

We are continually seeing users coming onto our forums asking really basic questions about financial products as they just don't understand the jargon associated with them".

""Having said that, there's a wider debate to be had about savings incentives and it's not only lower income individuals who need to be encouraged to put something aside for their future - the national savings ratio is continually falling and that's a real worry across the board, especially when the backdrop of high rates should be conducive to savings".

"A greater concern is where you have so many people relying on their property for an income in retirement.".

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