Speaking at the BSA Annual lunch, David Cutter, who is also chief executive of the Skipton Building Society, said that while the Government’s Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS) had clearly helped to turn the credit cycle, it had also had a knock-on impact on the returns for savers reliant on cash deposits.

“Savers remain the bedrock on which our lending industry is based, and it is therefore vital to encourage and foster a long term savings culture,” he said.

In a submission to the Treasury, the BSA is proposing a number of measures to assist at least some of the savers caught in the current low-rate environment.  These include: an increase in the subscription limit on Cash ISAs to equal that of Stocks & Shares ISAs; to allow transfers from Stocks & Shares ISAs into Cash ISAs; to allow Child Trust Funds to be transferred to Junior ISAs; and to introduce a First ISA Scheme, which would see the Government match the amount paid into an account in the first year.