Bank of England base rate
Bank Rate, often called the base rate, as set by the Monetary Policy Committee.
Quick summary
- Bank Rate: 3.75% (December 18, 2025).
- Update frequency: After each Monetary Policy Committee meeting (eight a year).
- Source: Bank of England Database, Official Bank Rate (IUDBEDR).
Bank Rate
3.75%
Data for: December 18, 2025
Previous: 4.00% (August 7, 2025)
What it is
Bank Rate is the interest rate the Bank of England pays on reserves held by commercial banks. The Monetary Policy Committee votes on it eight times a year to keep CPI inflation at the 2% target.
Why it matters
Tracker and variable-rate mortgages follow Bank Rate directly, and fixed-rate deals and savings rates usually move in the same direction. A change of 0.25 points on a £200,000 tracker mortgage changes the payment by about £30 a month.
Rate changes
| Date | Bank Rate |
|---|---|
| December 18, 2025 | 3.75% |
| August 7, 2025 | 4.00% |
| May 8, 2025 | 4.25% |
| February 6, 2025 | 4.50% |
| November 7, 2024 | 4.75% |
| August 1, 2024 | 5.00% |
| August 3, 2023 | 5.25% |
| June 22, 2023 | 5.00% |
| May 11, 2023 | 4.50% |
| March 23, 2023 | 4.25% |
| February 2, 2023 | 4.00% |
| December 15, 2022 | 3.50% |
| November 3, 2022 | 3.00% |
| September 22, 2022 | 2.25% |
| August 4, 2022 | 1.75% |
| June 16, 2022 | 1.25% |
| May 5, 2022 | 1.00% |
| March 17, 2022 | 0.75% |
| February 3, 2022 | 0.50% |
| December 16, 2021 | 0.25% |
| March 19, 2020 | 0.10% |
| March 11, 2020 | 0.25% |
| August 2, 2018 | 0.75% |
| November 2, 2017 | 0.50% |
| August 4, 2016 | 0.25% |
| January 2, 2015 | 0.50% |
How to read
Latest: 3.75%
Where it comes from
Bank of England Database, Official Bank Rate (IUDBEDR)
Careful
Information, not advice
What to do
Compare with the related indicators
Reading the bank of england base rate figure
What the latest bank of england base rate reading says
The most recent value on this page is 3.75%, for December 18, 2025. Against the previous reading of 4.00%, that is −0.25% — a move down. After each Monetary Policy Committee meeting (eight a year) is how often Bank of England Database, Official Bank Rate (IUDBEDR) publishes it, so a single reading is a snapshot and not a trend. The 26 observations in the table above, from January 2, 2015 onwards, are what gives the figure context.
Where the bank of england base rate figure sits in its own history
Across the 26 readings loaded here, the series moved between 0.10% and 5.25%. The latest value sits inside that range, so nothing in this window is exceptional. A window this short cannot show a cycle. It shows the direction of travel and the size of the usual swing, which is enough to tell a normal move from an unusual one, and no more than that.
Who sets the bank of england base rate and who it affects in United Kingdom
Bank of England Database, Official Bank Rate (IUDBEDR) publishes the bank of england base rate series, and the page links the exact dataset and its licence below. Nothing here is a second-hand copy: the figure above is read from that source and shown with the date the source gave it. People reach this page searching for "bank of england base rate", and the honest answer is the published figure plus its date. A national figure is an average: your own rate, bill or salary in United Kingdom will sit above or below it.
Why the bank of england base rate table only shows some dates
This is a policy rate, so the table lists the dates on which it changed, not every day. Between two rows the rate stayed at the earlier value, which is why 3.75% can hold for months.
Glossary
Policy rate
The interest rate a central bank sets to steer the economy, and the floor under most other rates in that currency. It moves only when the rate-setting committee decides, so its history is a series of steps rather than a continuous line.
Basis point
One hundredth of a percentage point. Central banks and markets talk in basis points because "a 0.25 point cut" and "a 25 basis point cut" are the same thing, and the second wording leaves no room for doubt.
Real rate
An interest rate after inflation is taken out, roughly the quoted rate minus the inflation rate. A savings account paying less than inflation has a negative real rate, which means the money loses purchasing power.
Revision
A later correction of a published figure, as the statistics office receives more complete data. Values marked provisional or estimated are the ones most likely to change, which is why the page keeps the source flag.
National average
A figure averaged over a whole country, and therefore not a quote for you. Your own mortgage rate, salary or grocery bill depends on your region, your lender or your shop and will sit above or below the average.
Year-on-year inflation
The change in a price index against the same month a year earlier. It can fall while prices are still rising, because it measures the speed of the increase, not the level of prices.
Yield
The annual return an investor earns by lending money through a bond, expressed as a percentage of its price. Price and yield move in opposite directions: when a bond gets cheaper, its yield rises.
Source: Bank of England Database, Official Bank Rate (IUDBEDR)
Licence: Open Government Licence v3.0, © the Governor and Company of the Bank of England
Update frequency: After each Monetary Policy Committee meeting (eight a year)
Information only, not financial advice. Figures come from the official source shown and may be revised.
Related indicators
- UK average mortgage ratesAverage quoted UK mortgage rates for 2, 3 and 5-year fixes at 75% loan to value and the average revert-to rate, from the Bank of England.
- UK inflation rate (CPI)Latest UK Consumer Prices Index (CPI) annual inflation rate from the Office for National Statistics, with monthly history.
- UK unemployment rateLatest UK unemployment rate for people aged 16 and over, seasonally adjusted, from the ONS, with rolling three-month history.