Published on 24 October 2016

Savings (Government Contributions) Bill 2016-17

Submissions

The Savings (Government Contributions) Bill 2016-17 outlines two new savings schemes – the Lifetime ISA and Help to Save accounts. The LITRG welcomes attempts by the Government to incentivise individuals to save both for their short and long term financial security, but points out that there still many finer details to consider. 

a desk with a calculator, a piggy bank, pens, a calculator and a sheet of white paper with the words 'ISA INDIVIDUAL SAVINGS ACCOUNT' written on it.
Vitalii Vodolazskyi / Shutterstock.com

his briefing offers a number of suggestions to help boost the success of these schemes. These include:

  • the return on Lifetime ISAs and Help to Save accounts should be disregarded from income calculations for tax credits and means-tested benefits;
  • amounts held in both should be disregarded from means-tested benefits capital assessment;
  • having two eligibility criteria dates for Help to Save seems unnecessary;
  • definitions should be aligned with existing legislation as far as possible, to avoid unnecessary complexity.

As much detail of the schemes is to be detailed in Regulations, we recommend that the Government publishes these for consultation. 

The House of Common's Public Bill Committee documents are available on the Parliament website.

The LITRG response is available here: Savings (Government Contributions) Bill 2016-17 – LITRG response

Kelly Sizer

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