The level of people who felt it was a good time to save fell in May to its lowest point since December 2015, according to the Nationwide UK (Ireland) Savings Index.

The Savings Environment sub-index, which asks respondents if they feel now is a good time to save and whether government policy encourages saving, fell to 108 points in May from 119 points the previous month. The drop was shown in both the over-50 and under-50 age groups.

Nationwide UK (Ireland) managing director Brendan Synnott said savers faced a number of issues in May, which appear to have impacted their view on saving.

“In May savers faced a number of issues. The government had just been formed and people lacked certainty as to what its policies might look like or how it would perform given it is a minority government….Beyond that the increase in rent levels across the country is also contributing to uncertainty regarding savings.”

In terms of consumers’ intentions for any surplus money, the percentage of those who said they would use the extra to pay off debts, including their mortgage, fell to 40.3 percent in May from 44.6 per cent in April.