Market

The base rate has not moved since December 2025. Inflation has.

What money costs in the UK right now, and whether lending is moving: five figures from the Bank of England and the Office for National Statistics, read here every morning. They set the ground your quote sits on, not the quote itself. Nothing here is a forecast or advice.

Last read: 20 October 2026, 07:00
Published by: Bank of England, Office for National Statistics
Read: Every morning

Base rate

3.75%4.00 to 3.75−0.25Dec 2025Since Oct 2025The rate everything else is built from.Set by the Bank of England eight times a year, who call it Bank Rate. Unchanged since 18 December 2025, cut from 4.0%.

Source: Bank of England
Series: IUDBEDR
Effective: 18 December 2025

CPI inflation

3.1%2.9 to 3.1+0.2on July 2026Since Sep 2024How much prices have risen over twelve months.The target is 2%, so this is 1.1 points above where it is meant to be. It is the reason the rate is being held rather than cut.

Source: Office for National Statistics
Series: D7G7
To: August 2026
Next due: 21 October 2026

Net lending to businesses

2.7bn1.9 to 2.7+0.8on July 2026Since Sep 2024Whether UK businesses borrowed more than they repaid.More borrowed than repaid for the 30th month running. When this goes negative, firms are paying debt down rather than taking it on, and lenders notice before you do.

Source: Bank of England, Money and Credit
Series: LPMVWNQ
For: August 2026
Next due: late October 2026

SONIA

3.7335%3.7324 to 3.7335+0.0011on 14 Oct 2026Since Oct 2025What it costs one bank to borrow from another, overnight.Rarely in the news, and not the same as the base rate. But it is closer to what lending actually costs, and it moves between meetings. If a quote changed while the headlines said rates had not, this is usually why.

Source: Bank of England
Series: IUDSOIA
For: 15 October 2026

Mortgage approvals

54,918a month55,928 to 54,918−1,010on July 2026Since Sep 2024How many house purchases were approved for funding last month.Residential, not investment, property, so it shows the temperature of the property market rather than bridging demand.

Source: Bank of England
Series: LPMVTVX
For: August 2026
Next due: late October 2026

None of this sets your rate directly. It reaches a quote through whoever is funding the loan: a bank lending from deposits, a specialist lender borrowing from the markets to lend on, or a private lender weighing it against what the money would earn sitting still. Which applies depends on the case, and none of them moves in step with the figures above.

Every figure here is read from the publisher, not retyped. The Bank of England and the ONS give each series an identifier, such as IUDSOIA for SONIA and D7G7 for inflation, printed beside each figure so you can check our number against theirs in the publisher’s own database. Nothing is adjusted, interpreted or forecast. Where a source has not published since our last read, the figure says when the next one is due rather than being hidden. Bank of England and Office for National Statistics data under the Open Government Licence v3.0.