Britons' saving falls by a fifth over 2010

The amount Britons are saving has dived by more than a fifth since the beginning of the year, a survey indicated today.

The average person is saving £102 a month, down from £130 in February, according to Spanish bank Santander.

But the research found that while a quarter of people plan to increase the amount they save each month, 42% of people are currently not saving anything at all.

Seven out of 10 people have money set aside, with the typical person holding £20,757 in a deposit account.

However, 30% of people admitted they do not have any savings, and 12% have savings but are not adding to them at the moment.

Around 68% of people expect the Bank of England base rate to increase during the coming 12 months, with 11% expecting it to rise from its current record low of 0.5% to 2% or higher.

Just over a third of people said they plan to keep their savings in a tracker account to take advantage of any increase to the base rate.

* Omnibus research questioned 2,000 people during September.