ONS reveals household savings at record low of 1.7%
Britons are finding it more and more difficult to save, with the household saving ratio declining further to 1.7% in the first quarter of 2017.
According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS) the amount of income being put towards savings by those in the UK has been declining since the middle of 2015.
The figure of 1.7% is a record low for savers in the UK, as it falls below 2% for the first time.
The ONS also revealed consumer spending had declined during the second quarter of the year.
Despite the declining savings rate, statistics show that UK employment is at a joint-record high of 74.8%.
ONS head of GDP Darren Morgan said: "The saving ratio has fallen again this quarter to a new record low, partly as a result of higher tax payments reducing disposable income. Some of the fall could be as a result of the timing of those payments, but the underlying trend is for a continued fall in the saving ratio."
ALARM BELLS
The government should take note of the decreasing amount of savings being gathered by those in the UK, according to Hargreaves Lansdown’s head of policy Tom McPhail.
McPhail said: "This data is likely to set alarm bells ringing; whether this is in fact evidence of a confident economy or peak complacency remains to be seen. The fall in the household savings ratio is undoubtedly in large part due to the squeeze on disposable income caused by a combination of flat average earnings and rising prices.
"We need to develop a stronger culture of saving and investing; this is something to which the government needs to devote more attention."