A parliamentary debate on saving has sparked renewed calls for the monthly sharesave savings limit to be raised from £250 to £400 to help employees save more.
In the debate, Treasury finance secretary Ian Pearson MP said that a third of the two million employees currently saving into a sharesave scheme earn less than £21,000 a year.
Phil Hall, head of ifs Proshare, said that this supported the industry body’s call for the monthly savings limit to be raised as it would help people on low incomes to save more, as well as those earning higher sums.
He added that the organisation is lobbying the government to raise the monthly savings limit to £400. If the current limit of £250, which was set in 1991, had been increased in line with inflation, it would now exceed £400 a month.
“Employee share plans are utilised by employees with low, middle and high incomes because they provide benefits to all,” said Hall. “Once again, we call on the Government to raise the amount of money that employees can save in [sharesave] plans to ensure employees are able to save more.”