Scots savers lag behind, survey reveals

The typical Briton has just under £8,000 saved in a tax-free account - but Scottish savers fall well below the average.

People in Scotland have an average of just 6,453 set aside in a tax-free account.

But when savings levels at looked at in terms of average local earnings, people in Wales are the best savers, with the equivalent of 37 per cent of local pay deposited in an ISA, followed by those in Northern Ireland at 36 per cent .

Londoners save the least as a proportion of their pay, holding the equivalent of 21 per cent of average local earnings in an ISA.

Nitesh Patel, economist at Halifax, said: "It's great to see UK savers are taking advantage of the tax-free benefit of an ISA by investing just under a third of their income.

"Frustratingly though, while ISAs have been available for over a decade, savers are still not using their full annual ISA allowance, with the UK average of just 7,782 being saved."

People can save up to 10,200 a year into an ISA.