The gap between the base rate and your savings rate

When the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), the Bank of England committee that sets the base rate, moves the rate, savings providers are free to pass on as much or as little of that move as they choose. The difference between the base rate and what an account actually pays is called pass-through, and it is rarely one for one.

In August 2026 the base rate stood at 3.75 per cent, the level the MPC set at its December 2025 decision. The Bank of England's monthly average of the rates quoted on household instant-access savings accounts, leaving out bonuses, was 1.90 per cent that month. That left a gap of 1.85 percentage points between the headline rate and what an instant-access saver was being offered. (Source: Bank of England. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.)

Why the gap isn't fixed

Providers weigh the base rate against how much they need to attract in deposits, what they can lend that money out at, and what competitors are offering. A rise in the base rate improves the arithmetic behind a higher savings rate, but it does not force one, which is why two accounts opened on the same day can move by different amounts after the same MPC decision.

There is also a timing element separate from the size of the gap. Some accounts reprice within days of a decision; others sit unchanged for weeks. The route a base rate change takes to reach a mortgage payment or a savings rate, and the typical timings involved, are set out in full on how a base rate change reaches your money.

Checking the current rate and the decision behind it

The base rate in force now, along with the date of the meeting that set it, is kept on the base rate now. The base rate's past decisions, with their dates, are on the rate reference page.