What is Help to Save, are you eligible for the Government scheme and how do you get the £1,200 bonus
The new savings account for low-income workers will begin to be rolled-out in January
HARD-UP households wanting to start the new year with a new savings habit could be set for a £1,200 tax-free boost.
Back in 2016, the Government announced a new saving scheme - Help to Save - which will let low-income families put away up to £50 a month for four years amid concerns that millions aren't saving anything for a rainy day.
And today, it's been confirmed the new scheme will open for business for a trial period in January and then rolled-out throughout the year, with all of the eligible 3.5 million people able to open an account by October 2018.
How does Help to Save work?
Those who sign-up for an account will be able to put a maximum of £50 a month away for four years.
At the end of two years, they'll get a bonus of 50 per cent on their balance and then another one at the end of the four years.
That means those who've put away the maximum £2,400 over the four years will get a hefty bonus of £1,200 tax-free.
Those with Working Tax Credits will be invited to open an account to start with, while it's expected that those on Universal Credit will begin to be invited from April.
Once up and running, customers will be able to make transactions through the Gov.uk website, and withdrawals can be made at any time.
In response to the initial announcement in 2016, Mike O'Connor, chief exec of debt charity StepChange, welcomed the move to try and get more families saving.
At the time he said: "We welcome Government recognition of the need for a savings scheme aimed at those on low incomes.
"Our research shows that if every household in the UK had £1,000 in rainy day savings, 500,000 would be protected from falling into problem debt.
"In order to build financial resilience and to protect people on low-incomes from the risk of falling into debt, any savings scheme needs to work alongside other elements of a responsive safety net, including access to more sustainable and affordable credit and better protections for those in financial difficulty."
Finance boffins are becoming increasingly concerned about household debt and a lack of savings.
In October, regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) found that millions of households would struggle to cope if their monthly bills increased by just £50 a month.
Overall more than 25 million adults are financially vulnerable, the regulator warned.
The major banks have also been asked to set aside an extra £10billion to cover losses from those who can't repay their outstanding debts.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online Money team? Email us at money@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 78 24516