While savers are clearly losing out, they also risk facing an unexpected tax bill as income tax is charged on all bank interest unless it is held in an ISA.

Bank of England figures showed that £253bn is held in low interest bank accounts, although the figure is down £19bn on the excessively high figures accumulated during the pandemic.

From 2008 to 2022 the level of cash sitting in low interest accounts increased by over £200bn.

When the interest rates were last 5.25% there was just £33bn in accounts that were not paying out interest, rising every year until 2017 when it dropped to almost £150bn.

Laith Khalaf, head of investment analysis at AJ Bell said: ‘A mountain of cash paying no interest to savers built up in the wake of the financial crisis as a result of low interest rates and bank funding schemes introduced by the Bank of England.