The Building Societies Association announces the sector’s ambition to create a million workplace savers by 2025
The project was developed by the BSA’s member-led Savings Taskforce, which will work with partners to achieve the target.
This goal will support the Money & Pensions Service’s target, also announced today, to get two million more people who are either squeezed or struggling to start to save by 2030.
The BSA convened a Savings Taskforce from its member organisations to identify how the sector could help households to put aside regular savings to become more financially resilient.
We estimate that there are 7.5 million people in work who don’t have any savings¹. The Taskforce has focused its attention on workplace savings, where people in-work can choose to have deductions taken directly from their pay and placed in an easy access savings account.
In the coming weeks the Taskforce will finalise a set of resources that will be available to participating BSA members, to help them to set up workplace savings schemes with local employers.
Mike Regnier, Chair of the BSA’s Savings Taskforce, BSA Chair, and Chief Executive of Yorkshire Building Society said:
“We know that having a buffer of savings that can be drawn on in an emergency can help households deal with events that might otherwise put them into financial difficulty or lead them to call on high cost credit. There are also benefits for the individual from reduced anxiety and stress, which improves their wellbeing and helps them to be more productive at work.
We know that we can’t solve an issue as big as this by ourselves. We will therefore look to work with like-minded organisations and of course with employers across the country that are interested in improving their employees’ financial and mental wellbeing. By working together, we think we can get a million people saving direct from their salary in the next five years.”
