Pensioner bonds deadline extended by three months
09/02/2015
The Government backed pensioner bonds are set to be extended for another three months thanks to their enormous popularity, Chancellor George Osborne has said.
The deadline to apply for the pensioner bonds, which offer competitive rates of up to 4% interest, will be extended until May this year. The bonds have been incredibly successful with more than £1 billion worth of bonds sold in the first two days, with 600,000 people signing up.
National Savings and Investments (NS&I) are currently offering up to £10 billion in the bonds. It is believed that this will change to £15 billion in the coming months, and the deadline will run until 15th May 2015, a week after the general election.
Mr Osborne said:
"We need to support savers in our country. That is one of the things that went badly wrong in Britain 10 years ago.
"I think you have to see this in the context of a plan where there have been very low interest rates to support the economy during this difficult period. That has hit savers. I think it is perfectly reasonable for a chancellor to say I want to support savers."
Labour has accused Osborne of “trying to erase the memory” of previous cuts.
Labour's shadow Treasury minister Chris Leslie said:
"Don't be surprised if George Osborne, as we get closer to an election, tries to give away all sorts of things when, actually, he is trying to erase the memory of how much he has taken away from pensioners."
"And he has not said where he is going to get the money for this. What other public services are going to suffer as a result?"
If you would like any more information on the government back pension bonds, please click here or call 0500 007 007.
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