Michael Johnson

September 2018

The Treasury Select Committee has recently called on the Government to abolish the LISA, criticising the product for “its complexity and its inconsistency with the other parts of the long-term savings landscape, which has contributed to its limited take-up by customers and providers”. The Treasury Select Committee is right to criticise the LISA’s complexity, but the answer is not to scrap it. The LISA should be enhanced and simplified, as outlined in this essay. If it was and made widely available, then usage of it could quickly significantly increase. In particular, it would be a popular and significant savings policy for younger generations.