NS&I to bring back index-linked savings certificates

Index-linked savings certificates are to be offered to new savers again in 2011/12 by National Savings & Investments (NS&I).

The RPI-linked certificates were originally withdrawn in July after greater-than-anticipated demand as inflation soared.

However, NS&I says it is now on target for net financing for 2011-12 of £2bn, in a range of £0bn to £4bn, meaning it can now plan to restart the general sale of the certificates.

Since July, only savers with maturing investments in savings certificates have been able to continue to rollover their investments for a further term.

Earlier this year, Saga Group director general Ros Altmann called for the reintroduction of the inflation-linked certificates as a way for pensioners to battle the rising cost of living.

NS&I's latest financial report also shows it delivered £0.2bn of savings to the taxpayer in Q3.

The RPI inflation index jumped to 5.5% in February, up from 5.1% in the previous month, while CPI inflation rose from 4% to 4.4%.

The popularity of index-linked saving certificates meant they had 588,368 customers by the end of March 2010, with £16.7bn invested in them.