What the base rate is

The base rate, also called Bank Rate, is the rate the Bank of England pays on the reserves that commercial banks hold with it. It matters to a household because most other borrowing and savings rates are priced with reference to it, even though the size and speed of that effect differs by product.

Who sets it

The base rate is set by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), the Bank of England committee responsible for keeping inflation near the government's target. The MPC meets on a published schedule and announces its decision, along with the reasoning behind it, at the end of each meeting. That reasoning is what determines how the decision gets read by lenders and savings providers in the weeks that follow.

How this page treats the question

The current base rate, the date it was set and the next scheduled decision are kept on the base rate reference page, so a figure is never repeated here without checking it against that record first. Each change to the base rate, with the date it applies from, is listed on the rate reference page.

Knowing who sets the rate is the first step. What happens to your own mortgage or savings account afterwards depends on the route the change takes to reach it, which is covered on how a base rate change reaches your money.