The district’s building societies have welcomed changes to savings accounts announced in last week’s Budget, and praised the impact they will have on customers.

As part of the reforms announced by Chancellor George Osborne, ISAs will be transformed into a new and simpler product called the New ISA (NISA), with an annual limit of £15,000.

This full amount will be permitted to be held in either cash, stocks and shares, or any combination of the two, and individuals will be permitted to transfer any funds previously invested in stocks and shares into cash outside of annual subscription limits.

Within 48 hours of the Budget being revealed, Skipton Building Society announced that it was ‘NISA ready’, allowing customers to make use of their full new ISA allowance, even if they lock into a fixed rate ISA beforehand.

The society is ensuring that all Fixed Rate ISA customers who subscribe from April 6 will be able to deposit their £5,940 current allowance, and is committed to giving customers a month-long period throughout July to top up their accounts to the new £15,000 limit.

Skipton’s head of products, Kris Brewster, said: “We have long campaigned on behalf of our customers for more simplification and fairness in tax-free savings and welcome the first budget to really address their plight in this historically low interest-rate environment.

“We are sending out the clear message that Skipton is fully committed to the New ISA and we will ensure our customers can take full advantage. It is simply the right thing to do for our savers.

“In what is usually unheard of in fixed rate accounts, savers in Skipton’s Fixed Rate ISAs for the 2014/15 tax year will be able to top up throughout the whole of July up to the new maximum NISA limit.

“As a building society, we pride ourselves on the excellent service and value that we offer our customers. Following these changes to the ISA allowances, we can send out a clear message which emphatically states we are NISA ready.”

Andy Caton, Yorkshire Building Society’s Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, also welcomed the new limit as “tremendous news for savers”.

He said: “Changing the rules on ISAs deals with an area of the economy that many of us have been crying out for reform on for years.

“Introducing a larger tax-free allowance and removing the distinction between cash and stocks and shares ISAs incentivises the savings habit and massively widens the options for those who already put money away.

“Those nervous of stocks and shares previously only had access to half of their annual ISA allowance, which effectively penalised savers with a low-risk appetite.”