Chancellor Gordon Brown announced his decision to extend the £7,000 a year individual tax-free savings limit to 2010 on budget day,  which has pleased the savings industry and spurred a host of tax year-end reminders.

With less than a month to make the most of their current tax-free ISA savings allowance, Barclays is launching an awareness campaign in its branches to encourage savers to take advantage of their allowances before the end of the tax year and to make sure they are maximising returns on previous years’ investments.

The savings industry has welcomed Chancellor Gordon Brown's decision to extend the 7,000 pound a year individual tax-free savings limit to 2010 but called on Brown to make this limit a permanent fixture.

Mike Rogers, managing director, UK retail banking at Barclays comments: "We welcome the government’s decision in the Budget to hold current ISA limits until 2010. We encourage people to make as much use of this valuable tax-free savings vehicle while they still can so we have trained 3, 500 frontline staff to help people find the best home for their money and mitigate the Taxman’s raid."

"Savers should also review previous years’ ISA investments to make sure they are working as hard as they should be. This could mean switching providers."

Both Barclays and The Woolwich have also introduced a tracker guarantee on its Mini Cash ISA that is valid until 5 April 2006. The guarantee states that if the base rate moves, customer rates will move within 3 working days. Both old and new customers will benefit from this new feature.

Barclays offers these simple tips for savers wanting to switch their mini cash ISAs (up to £3,000) from one provider to another to make the most of their money before the end of the tax year.

Barclays top ISA switching tips are:

• Research what your existing provider will accept as written instruction to transfer your ISA. Find out if there is a specialist team that you can send instructions to that will speed up the process.
• When transferring your cash mini ISA make sure that you clearly state that you wish to 'transfer your ISA' and not 'close it'.
• If you only want to transfer some of your previous year's subscriptions find out if your existing provider will allow you to do this. Some providers insist that you transfer all of the balances in your existing ISA to another provider and not just part of your balances.
• Check if your existing ISA provider has a notice period or fee for withdrawing funds early. If so make sure you inform your existing provider that you wish to give notice or are happy to incur any fee or loss of interest that may be due if your instructions are processed immediately.
• Make sure you are fully informed about what is involved in transferring your ISA by doing some research.

Further guidance on transferring your ISA can be found on the following websites: