Maike Currie of Fidelity Personal Investing regretted the continuation of the UK’s income famine, believing savers to be the ultimate losers.

Currie said it was unclear when interest rates would move upward, noting that some pundits predict later this year, while others that it won’t move until 2016. However, she believed “the return to normality was likely to be “slow and shallow” – and that there was even scope for the BoE opening the door to rates falling even further towards zero.

Susan Hannums of Savingschampion.co.uk stated that while all eyes were looking anxiously to when the BoE would increase the base rate, she believed that “the continued disconnect between base rate and savings rates” means there is “little reason to believe that will reap the full benefits” even when rates do rise.

Hannums acknowledged however that there had been some encouraging news for savers over the past six months, with the recent FCA Cash Market Study hopefully leading to greater competition and the increasing number of challenger banks being launched.

“It has never been more important for savers to manage their cash,” Hannums concluded. “There is at least £160bn sitting in easy-access accounts paying 0.5 per cent or less, and a further £12 billion in cash ISAs. So savers need to use all the weapons in their armoury in order to earn the best interest rates available. That means remaining ever vigilant and not allowing inertia to reward the banks and building societies which cut the interest rates they are paying.”

In contrast, Stephen Smith of Legal & General said that the low base rate has created opportunities for savvier borrowers to secure mortgage deals at unprecedented low rates.

However, Smith also recognised that rock bottom rates cannot last forever, and that rates can only really go one way, and that is up. He urged savers to start price in an interest rate rise ahead of time, and borrowers to act now to tie themselves into better deals or risk missing the boat when rates do begin to creep upwards.

Samuel Tombs of Capital Economics believes that the rate will be maintained while inflation hovers near zero, but the BoE will be forced to raise it later this year, as by the summer, it should be clear that the UK’s deflation is neither pernicious nor long lasting.

“It would be ideal for savers if the seventh anniversary was not reached,” Tombs concluded.