55 per cent of British employees say the pandemic has made them more aware of the importance of saving for the future, according to research from Cushon.

The study, which surveyed 2,000 UK employees in May, found that only 11 per cent feel like they cannot afford to save money at the moment.

The report suggests that 18–24-year-old workers are now twice as likely to say they are thinking about their future finances (58 per cent) than just focusing on today (31 per cent.)

44 per cent of the same age group said they ‘saved more than ever’ since March 2020 – saving almost £3,000 on average.

But one in five (19 per cent) people in the UK still do not have any savings or investments at all.

“It’s great to see that attitudes towards saving are slowly changing for the good, particularly among young people who are now twice as likely to think about the future than the here and now,” said Ben Pollard, chief executive and founder, Cushon. “But there is still much more that could be done to support those who aren’t in this mindset.”

Pollard added: “Similar to pensions prior to auto enrolment, it’s clear that inertia plays a big part. We believe that the Government should look to allow employers to automatically enrol employees into workplace saving schemes albeit with safeguards in place, such as education around saving versus debt repayment.”

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