Savings up, but a third of Britons have little set aside

The number of people who are actively saving has increased to 47 per cent, up from 40 per cent in August last year, while 70 per cent of people hope to set aside some money during the coming six months, according to market analyst Mintel.

But despite the rise in the number of people saving, 21 per cent of people still have no savings or investments at all.

About 35 per cent of people have less than 500 set aside, while 36 per cent have between 500 and 10,000 and 29 per cent have saved more than this amount, including 12 per cent who have savings and investments worth more than 50,000.

Toby Clark, head of UK finance at Mintel, said: "The slowdown appears to have concentrated people's minds on the importance of saving.

"Huge uncertainty surrounds the outlook of 2010, making saving and debt repayment more popular than spending."

People in Scotland are the nation's best savers, with just 9 per cent of people having nothing set aside, while those in London are the worst with 27 per cent admitting they do not have any savings or investments.