What is a Nation of Savers?

Building a ‘Nation of Savers’ is one of the five pillars of our UK Strategy for Financial Wellbeing. A key theme of this ten-year strategy is to see 2 million more working age people on low-to-modest incomes saving regularly.

Why save money?

Savings provide something for people to draw on in times of need. MaPS research shows that being able to put money aside on a regular basis can greatly improve people’s financial and overall wellbeing (1). However, our 2025 MoneyView survey shows that only 53% of working age adults are saving regularly (2). 

It is these two facts that make the Savings Charter an important tool in our shared ambition to help people build financial security.

 

Raising the profile of UK savings

The purpose behind creating the Savings Charter is to raise the profile of savings across the UK. It has been designed for savings providers across the spectrum of financial services: banks, building societies, credit unions and fintech. The Savings Charter can inform how firms raise the profile of savings through their branch network, digital and helpline services, or through their community-based activities.

 

The Savings Charter commitments

The Savings Charter commitments were drafted to be inclusive of all savings providers at whichever stage of the journey they are in building a Nation of Savers.

The five commitments of the Savings Charter are to:

• Publicly demonstrate a commitment to build financial security through savings
• Support individuals to save by understanding their financial situation and goals
• Give people an access to their savings buffer when they need it
• Keep customers informed about their savings and their options as customers
• Talk about saving in your local communities, and places of education and work

Firms are invited to sign up to one, more than one, or all five. Some firms will be well advanced in their savings approach and so will already be working to achieve all five commitments in support of their customers, or in the communities where they operate. Other firms may be at an earlier stage of their journey to raise the profile of savings and so choose to take an incremental approach.

 

Sign up to the Savings Charter

In becoming a signatory, firms are expected to support the needs of the Nation of Savers target population (working age people on low-to-modest incomes) alongside any other customer groups they are targeting. We ask firms to set out how they are meeting the Charter’s commitments in the cycle of their normal corporate reporting (for example, a press release or an annual report).  

Once firms have completed the easy sign-up process, we will issue them with a Savings Charter logo that can be used on corporate communications. We will also list them as a signatory on our Savings Charter pages. 

Find out more and sign up to the Savings Charter.

 

References

(1) UK Strategy for Financial Wellbeing: Listening Phase Report 2020 
(2) MoneyView 2025 | Money and Pensions Service