Consumers have lost almost £2,500 in savings due to inflation over the past 10 years, according to Yorkshire Building Society.

Yorkshire found that only 19 per cent of people were checking their savings to ensure they were not losing value.

Not factoring in how inflation would affect their savings has caused huge losses for the remainder of savers.

While 93 per cent of people say inflation is affecting their everyday spending, only 26 per cent say it is a criteria when choosing a savings account.

The average amount of money in a savings account is £11,648. If a person had put this into an easy access savings account in 2001, it would have earnt £1,624 in interest over ten years.

However, if they had invested it in an inflation-linked savings account they could have earnt £2,428 in interest.

This would have given them spending power of £15,700 compared to £13, 272.

Simon Broadley from Yorkshire Building Society said: “Most people realise that inflation has a significant impact on their day to day spending and are budgeting accordingly.

“However, most seem to forget, while it is an excellent idea to save, it is important to ensure that your savings account doesn’t lose its spending power and it keeps pace with inflation.”

Inflation has been rising over the past few months and currently stands at 4.5 per cent, more than double the Bank of England’s official target.

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