People who have not put money away before may benefit from an instant access savings account, one expert has suggested.

Phil Perry, a director at Ark Financial Planning, highlighted that consumers like to have a product they know they can access if they need to.

He continued: "I would never tie my money up for more than a year in deposit-based funding.

"That is purely because interest rates are predicted to rise within the next 12 months."

Mr Perry emphasised that any savings account needs to be opened with a deposit, so people need to focus on building that up before they locate the best product for their needs.

This follows statistics from insolvency trade body R3, which found that debts are a major source of concern for many people all over the country.

More than half (53 per cent) of those polled are concerned about their level of credit card debt.