Cash was king in pandemic

CASH was king for Isa savers during the pandemic savings boom – but its popularity appeared to be waning as people increasingly turned to stocks and shares.

Around 12 million adult Isa accounts were subscribed to in 2020/2021, down from 13 million in 2019/2020, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) said.

But the share of accounts subscribed to in cash fell to two-thirds (66%) of accounts, HMRC said, compared with threequarters (75%) in 2019/2020.

Around £72 billion was subscribed to adult Isas in 2020/2021 – a decrease of £2.4 billion compared with 2019/2020.

This decrease was driven by the fall in cash Isa subscriptions, HMRC said, which dropped by about £12 billion.

Adrian Lowery, financial analyst at investment platform Bestinvest, said the figures suggest that ‘during the pandemic savings boom, many households looked towards investments rather than cash savings’.