Savings Index Increases 10 Points

The Nationwide UK (Ireland) / ESRI Savings Index, which measures overall sentiment towards saving, increased to 104 in November, up 10 points on last month.

The overall increase is driven by the Savings Attitude index, which asks respondents about their saving behaviour and how they feel about the amount they save, which increased to 127 in November versus 107 in the previous month.

Meanwhile, the Savings Environment sub-index, which asks if people believe that the current period is a good time to save and whether they think government policy encourages people to save, remained unchanged in November at 81. This is two points ahead of the level recorded one year ago.

Commenting on the Index, Brendan Synnott Managing Director of Nationwide UK (Ireland), said: " This month the index has returned to the underlying trend observed throughout 2014 with more people saving regularly and increasing contentment with the amount being saved.

"The negative views expressed last month across all measures are not repeated this month which may indicate that the confirmation of reduced water charges plus the pending income tax reductions, which become effective from January, have eased the concerns reflected last month."