The government will extend its Help to Save scheme by 18 months after it was tipped to close in September.
In his 2023 Budget yesterday (March 15), chancellor Jeremy Hunt said he has kept the current terms of the Help to Save scheme in place until April 2025, but has promised a consultation in the interim.
The consultation will seek views on longer term options to support low-income savers.
The Help to Save scheme was announced by former prime minister David Cameron ahead of the 2016 Budget.
Launched two years after it was announced, in September 2018, the scheme was aimed at those on low incomes to encourage them to save.
When it launched, the initiative offered a 50 per cent bonus on the amount saved, up to a maximum bonus of £1,200 over four years.
Each calendar month, a person can save between £1 and £50. At the end of the second and fourth years of the scheme, members get paid the bonus based on how much they have saved.
When it launched, the government anticipated the programme to benefit up to 3.5mn people.
But by 2019, the scheme had been branded a "damp squib" having reached just 65,000 people.
