What this page answers

This page states the base rate (Bank Rate) as set at the most recent meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), along with the date of that decision and the date of the next scheduled meeting. It sets out how the rate has moved across recent decisions, so a reader can see the pattern of change.

How the rate is set

The base rate is decided by the MPC, a Bank of England committee that meets on a fixed schedule roughly every six weeks to review the same rate. The Committee weighs inflation, employment and other economic indicators before voting, and publishes its reasoning at the same time as the decision. This page records what has been decided and when; it does not anticipate a vote before the Bank has published it.

Where the rate reaches your money

• Tracker mortgages, which move within one to two payment cycles of a decision, on terms set out in the lender's own agreement
• Fixed-rate mortgages, which do not move until the fixed period ends and the deal is repriced
• Savings accounts, where providers set their own rate and typically pass through only part of any base rate move, a gap the site calls pass-through
• Other borrowing priced against the base rate or against a lender's own standard variable rate (SVR)

Each of these routes has its own timing and its own gap between the headline rate and what actually lands on a statement. Read About | Interest Rates for more on how figures on this site are sourced and dated.

Who this page is for

It is written for anyone who has heard that the base rate has moved or held and wants the current figure, the date it was set and the decisions that came before it, without needing to read the Bank of England's own publications to find them.