Standard Life: Make saving easier to tackle debt

Commenting on its latest savings index, Standard Life said that only 58 per cent of people regularly saved and merely a third were happy with their provision for retirement.

“The UK has the highest level of personal debt in Europe and for this to change we must make it as easy to save as it is to borrow,” said Trevor Matthews, chief executive of Standard Life Assurance.

He added that “37 per cent of respondents in our research expected to save more in the year ahead but without a change in cultural attitudes to savings this may be optimistic”.

Latest figures reveal that Britons are £1.3 trillion in debt and Mr Matthews blamed easy credit for part of this problem.

In order for attitudes towards debt management to change, Mr Matthews added that savings should be seen as the new “must have”, like an iPod or gym membership.

He also said that the level of satisfaction with savings for retirement was worrying, since that could see many people spend their final years in debt.