The new Help to Buy ISA that was a surprising addition to the savings reforms announced by Chancellor George Osborne yesterday pleased a third of British consumers, new research from price comparison site uSwitch.com reveals.
The Help to Buy ISA has receive a wide welcome from the mortgage industry with lenders and brokers saying it would help many people make that important first step onto the property ladder.
And it now seems that many consumers also agree with that.
A number of people are also happy about the other reforms the government will make to help savings. Nearly half (48 per cent) of the polled consumers said they are “very satisfied” with the introduction of the new flexible individual savings account (ISA) and 42 per cent approved of the introduction of tax-free savings allowance. Another 31 per cent were “very satisfied” with the rise in personal tax allowance to £10,800.
Overall more people consider themselves are financially better off (29 per cent) than worse off (20 per cent) as a result of the announcements made in the 2015 Budget.
Also, people feel more confident about the country’s finances (40 per cent) after this year’s budget speech than they did after last year’s (36 per cent).
Although there were some things in the 2015 Budget that made consumers happy, an overwhelming majority (76 per cent) said they have seen no improvement in their general standard of living over the last 12 months, with more than half (51 per cent) witnessing an increase in essential household bills.
The reseatch is based on a poll uSwitch.com conducted among 5,418 UK adults via their website on 18 March.
Read more details about the new addition to the Help to Buy scheme in our story, giving the details about rules and requirements for opening and saving into a Help to Buy ISA.
Full details about the new scheme are available online in the HM Treasury’s outline of the scheme.
