With the recent financial turmoil leading to massive bailouts for banks - not to mention the massive collapse of IceSave which threw the accounts of thousands into turmoil - it is reasonable to wonder whether savings are really in safe hands in the banks these days.

Fortunately, in the wake of the Northern Rock crisis the British Government implemented new policies to shore up the protection for savers - policies which have been futher bolstered since the start of the economic crisis caused by the credit crunch.

What this means is that provided you have less than £50,000 in your bank account you are completely protected against bank failure by the Government backed insurance, and new proposals from the FSA in the pipeline could see you getting your money back within a month.

If you have more than £50,000 in savings you can still benefit from the protections on offer - the catch is that you must split your savings across multiple bank accounts that are operated by different banking providers - bear in mind though that many banking brands may be operated by the same provider, so do make sure you do your homework and ensure you don't have two accounts under the same banking license - for example, Cheltenham and Glouster and Lloyds TSB, or Halifax and the Bank of Scotland. The Guardian offer a handy tool for double checking this.