The highly popular pensioner bonds should be brought back - but made available to people of all ages – to give a much needed boost to savings, the ex-Pensions Minister says.

Special savings bonds - with market-beating interest rates of 2.5% or 4% - were issued from January to May 2015 for the over 65s.

They became the biggest selling retail financial product in Britain's modern history. On the first day they were launched the NS&I website crashed and the phone lines struggled to cope with the demand.

More than one million savers bought over £13 billion of the pensioner bonds, it was reported in May last year.

Baroness Altmann, who quit the Government last month, called for the Government to now bring back the special savers’ bonds.

She said: “A new issue of such bonds, but not just limited to older savers would reward savers for setting money aside. This is vital if we are to sustain a savings culture in this country.

“Until a few weeks ago, the Bank of England had been suggesting the next move in rates would be upwards - signalling some relief for savers after years of misery.

“Now that rates have fallen even further instead, the authorities need to consider the impact on prudent people who want to provide for their own future.”

Another matter to consider, she said, was how to help companies that are struggling with rising pension deficits.

She said: “Issuing special bonds for pension funds, offering to underpin investments in infrastructure and housing, would be direct ways of helping alleviate the damage of monetary measures. The Government needs to find ways to offset the negative side-effects of the Bank of England's latest moves.”

She added: “With interest rates staying so low for so long, and rates continually falling further, savings incentives and savers' incomes across the economy are being destroyed. This has two damaging consequences which could actually weaken economic growth.”