What it explains

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) at the Bank of England sets the base rate (Bank Rate) at scheduled meetings through the year, and the figure is reported the same day. What happens next, to a mortgage payment, a savings balance or the cost of borrowing, depends on the type of product and the terms it was sold under. This site follows that route from the announcement through to the numbers a household actually sees.

How the working is shown

Where a page gives a rate, a spread or a lag, it names the date the figure was true and the source it came from, whether that is the Bank of England, the Office for National Statistics or another named body. Worked examples set out the inputs before the arithmetic, so the same steps can be run again with a reader's own numbers.

Where the questions get harder

Some questions sit outside what a mechanism can settle: whether the base rate will move at the next meeting, or which mortgage or savings product suits a particular household. Those questions belong elsewhere. This site names them and points to the sibling site that covers that ground.

Who reads it

Most readers arrive just after hearing that the base rate has moved or held, wanting to know what it does to their own mortgage or savings account. Others are weighing when to fix a deal and need the mechanism before the timing, or are students, journalists and new analysts who need the transmission from base rate to household bill explained once, properly, without assuming prior background.