The survey by the Post Office suggests 20 per cent of adults who have set a savings target expect to miss their goal this year, while more than a fifth are set to save a lower proportion of their income in 2014 than they did last year.

The average person who sets a savings target hopes to save £956, but in reality they fall more than £500 short.

The rising cost of living coupled with increasing consumer confidence is behind the trend, the Post Office said.

While there is growing optimism about the British economy’s recovery, the amount of cash available for Britons to put away will fall from £3,780 in 2013 to £3,630 in 2014, according to the data. By 2018 the figure will have fallen to £2,944.

The numbers are even starker at either end of the economic spectrum.

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After all living expenses have been taken into account, the lowest income households in the country will end this year with no savings and an average debt of £1,910. Meanwhile, the wealthiest 40 per cent of the UK’s population will have more than £18,000 available to save.

Henk Van Hulle, head of savings and investment at the Post Office, said: “While the economy is on the up and inflation remains low, our findings suggest that UK households are in danger of not saving enough. Reverting back to pre-crisis spending habits can easily be done, but it will have a detrimental effect on the amount we have to save each year.”

Only 70 per cent of money left over to save will actually make its way into savings accounts, the Post Office said, with the remainder kept in cash or loaned to friends.

Van Hulle said: “If the UK’s savings habits don’t improve, we’ll be left in a situation where far too many of us have inadequate savings pots, putting more financial stress on people later in life.”