Press Release

NS&I QUARTERLY SAVINGS SURVEY: ISSUE 9 AUTUMN 2006 QUARTERLY SAVINGS SURVEY MAIN RESULTS

13 December 2006

National Savings and Investments (NS&I) will be publishing its ninth Quarterly Savings Survey on 13 December. The autumn 2006 survey provides an incisive and continuous view of the UK savings market, tracking the development of savings trends over both the last quarter and the last year. The survey also covers the predicted savings outlook for the coming months.

The autumn 2006 Quarterly Savings Survey will reveal:

• The effect of friends on saving and spending
• Increase in the amount saved per person
• More people saving regularly
• But regular savers saving less
• And in the run-up to Christmas, the QSS also found that non-regular savers save for Christmas.  A statistic on this finding is covered below, is not embargoed and for journalists' use.

Saving for Christmas

The Quarterly Savings Survey asks people what they are saving for, and the autumn survey reveals that nearly a fifth (19%) of non-regular savers manage to put money aside in the lead up to events such as Christmas.

Dax Harkins, Senior Savings Strategist at NS&I, says: "Christmas is without doubt one of the most expensive times of the year so it is certainly sensible to save in advance of the additional drain on your finances.  It is encouraging to see that a fifth of those people who do not usually save on a regular basis have found the discipline to save in preparation for Christmas.  However, the rest of the non-regular savers do not appear to be saving for the added costs of the festive season."

"They should consider putting a little away each month in 2007 to make next Christmas a little easier to manage. One of the most effective ways of saving is to look at regular spending and make a few painless cutbacks, putting the money aside each month on payday instead.  It is a good way to boost the savings pot and begin to save habitually.  Setting up a standing order will ensure that the money is transferred each month and the funds for Christmas will grow, with the added interest that it is earning."