Further pain is likely for cash savers as inflation is forecast to rise even higher. Research group Pantheon Macroeconomics expects inflation to hit 8.8pc shortly, driven by the 54pc rise in the energy price cap. At this inflation rate, a person with £50,000 in a 1.1pc savings account would lose closer to £300 per month.

The March inflation rate was 0.3 percentage points above the consensus expectation of a 6.7pc rise. It is also significantly higher than the Bank of England’s 2pc inflation target.

It followed an 8.5pc reading in America, a 41-year high which signalled that further increases are likely in Britain too.

Myron Jobson, of Interactive Investor, a stockbroker, said: “The new era of higher inflation has only just begun and it seems the worst is yet to come. We should all strap in for a period of heightened inflation that is expected to last until 2024 according to official estimates.”

Rising inflation also means it is already becoming harder to save. Between December and February, regular pay increased by 5.4pc year-on-year, according to official data. But in real terms this actually represented a 1pc drop – the steepest fall since 2014.