WHILE the likes of you and I are quite possibly still wondering what to do with the personal equity plan (Pep) ration for this year, those far-seeing chaps the fund managers are worrying about the new individual savings accounts (Isas) which will replace them next tax year.

Chancellor Gordon Brown's aim is for Isas to attract six million new savers. That is quite an ambition, and no doubt there will be a lot of drum-beating and general hype for them as next April approaches. But for the moment, there is little to be heard beyond the quiet rustling of planning papers and soft murmurings of marketing debate in the fund management head offices.

The debate gets a little warmer behind the closed doors of the Inland Revenue when the industry representatives call in, however. The managers have a serious worry that, the way things look to them now, there is more likely to be a loss of maybe as many as 500,000 of their existing savers than an increase of anything like six million.

The unit trust industry, in particular, has been greatly pleased with the way it has attracted

more of the younger, less well-off investors into Pep savings plans over the last couple of years. A lot of them are under 45 and in lower tax-paying brackets, just the sort of people New Labour must have been thinking of when it set its

target at six million.

They have been recruited by mass selling organisations such as banks, and probably as many as 90% of them have signed up for regular savings plans, pumping sometimes as little as #25, but on average getting on for #80, into their Pep each month.

They should have done pretty well for themselves the way markets have been behaving recently, but unless they are well organised enough to keep running totals, they are unlikely to share in that nice warm feeling which comes to those who know exactly what they have done in their Peps when they scan the financial pages of The Herald after a good day in the markets.

Strangely enough, the savings picture is reversed when we look at the habits of the longer-standing more experienced investors. With them, some 90% of investment is made through lump sum Pep contributions (all too often made in the last-minute rush as the tax year closes) and only 10% are regular savers.

There is, however, a lot to be said for regular savers. Even the most experienced investor can make mistakes in stock market timing, and the drip-feed approach avoids the risk of investing your whole year's Pep ration at what later turns out to have been a market peak.

Unit trusts quote figures showing that #50 invested each month into a UK equity income Pep, the most popular choice, would have grown to #4276 in five years, assuming dividends were reinvested, whereas a similar contribution put into a typical building society account, with net income reinvested, would have become only #3201.

Unit trust managers are now worrying they may lose a lot of their new savers when they have to give the formal notification that Pep subscriptions must end next March. The Pep providers will be wanting them to divert the savings automatically into an equivalent Isa, but at the moment it looks as though investors will be required to fill up a whole new application form including such things as National Insurance number, date of birth and so on.

Lewis McNaught, of Gartmore, who is also chairman of AUTIF, the unit trust trade association, is arguing for a simple transfer, with the saver having only to give his or her signature.

''These people will probably want to keep on saving in the Isa regime, but the fear is that a large number may be confused about what is going on. They may decide not to continue their regular saving because they are confused by the Government cancelling the Pep subscription,'' he says.

Most regular savers, new ones in particular, have long-term targets - school fees, retirement and so on. But the concern in the industry is that unless there is a simple carry over, a lot will drop out. They may join an Isa later, but that could involve them in fees which would probably have been avoided with a roll-over.

It remains to be seen what formalities will be involved in setting up an Isa. In the meantime, unless you are convinced the market is due to suffer a sizeable fall, the message must be to make the most you can of the #9000 maximum Pep subscriptions this year. And be ready to cope with whatever formalities are needed for putting both regular savings and lump sums into Isas, particularly in their first year, when the subscription limit will be #7000 compared with #5000 for subsequent years.