Leader: More carrots, fewer sticks

While the additional £250 CTF voucher seems a tidy incentive to encourage children to save, assist with financial education in schools, hearten parents to teach their kids the value of money with a 'freebie' - and allow even those on low incomes to feel they can become involved with their children's finances, it feels rather like the stakeholder scheme all over again.

Though seen by many advisers as 'not worth their time' in a very Linda Evangelista-like 'I don't get out of bed for less than £10,000 a day' type of attitude, one thing it should certainly do is aim to discourage the formation of bad spending habits from an early age.

While the government can offer its support to the have-nots, perhaps the savings shift of greater relevance to many advisers will be the increase in the Isa limit for the over-50s – the haves.

Likely to be at the wealthier end of demography, giving the over-50s an additional tax boost is certainly a step in the right direction, with the rest of us able to take advantage of the higher £10,200 limit from April 6 next year.

The industry has been calling for £10k-plus Isa limits for each and every Budget since the Isa was introduced. Perhaps this is finally shows that the government will start using carrots as well as sticks when it comes to steering people's financial behaviour, curbing the irresponsibility that got so many into trouble in the first place.

And if an opportunity for further advice is presented alongside it, then so be it. Where the Isa campaigns normally kick off in the first quarter, many houses are already starting to vie for investors' affections in anticipation of the change in legislation.