NatWest is encouraging savers to take part in a simple yet effective savings challenge that could see them amass as much as £780 by the end of the year. The 12-month challenge, designed to get people into the habit of saving regularly, encourages participants to save increasing amounts each month.

It is structured to be easy for anyone to follow, with the goal of helping people save more gradually as the year progresses. The concept is simple: you start by saving £10 in the first month, then increase your savings by £10 each subsequent month. For example, in January (Month 1), you save £10; in February (Month 2), you save £20; and in March (Month 3), you save £30, continuing this pattern for 12 months.

By following this plan, NatWest said, you’ll have saved £780 by the end of the year.

While the challenge was designed to start in January, there is still plenty of time to catch up if you’ve missed the couple of months. With the flexibility of the challenge, you can simply begin now and adjust the amounts saved each month to make up for the lost time.

NatWest’s savings challenge is just one of many popular methods. Other savings plans, like the 52-week £1 challenge or the 1p challenge, also help people build their savings over time, but with different structures.

The 52-week challenge, for example, involves saving increasing amounts each week, starting with £1 in the first week and ending with £52 in the final week, ultimately helping you save £1,378 by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, the 1p savings challenge follows a similar approach but on a daily basis, with participants saving 1p on the first day, 2p on the second day, 3p on the third day, and so on.

At the end of the year, savers who stick to this challenge will have accumulated £667.95.

NatWest pointed out that these types of savings challenges aren’t just about reaching a set financial goal - they’re also about fostering a regular savings habit.

NatWest said: “This challenge is a small step each day towards achieving a bigger savings goal.”