When Is the Next Bank of England Meeting? 2026 MPC Dates

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) sets Bank Rate, the official interest rate of the United Kingdom, at 8 scheduled meetings each year. Bank Rate currently stands at 3.75%, where it has been held since the committee cut it from 4% on 18 December 2025. Each decision is published alongside the meeting minutes at 12:00pm on a Thursday, and 4 of the 8 meetings also come with a quarterly Monetary Policy Report and a press conference led by the Governor. This page lists every confirmed MPC announcement date for 2026 and 2027, the outcome of each 2026 meeting so far, and what each decision means for mortgages, savings and the pound.

Bank of England MPC Schedule 2026

The Bank of England publishes its MPC meeting dates around a year in advance. There are 8 announcement dates in 2026, all on Thursdays at 12:00pm UK time. The February, April, July and November meetings are accompanied by a Monetary Policy Report (MPR) and press conference. Three meetings have taken place so far in 2026, and the MPC has held Bank Rate at 3.75% at all three.

MPC Meeting Dates 2027

The Bank of England confirmed its 2027 MPC dates in December 2025. All 8 announcements are at 12:00pm UK time, with Monetary Policy Reports in February, April, July and November.

What Time Is the Decision Announced?

The Bank of England announces its interest rate decision at 12:00pm London time on the scheduled Thursday. That is 7:00am in New York, 1:00pm in Frankfurt and 9:00pm in Tokyo. Unlike the US Federal Reserve, which publishes its minutes 3 weeks after each meeting, the Bank publishes the full Monetary Policy Summary and minutes at the same moment as the decision. Traders therefore see the vote split, the committee’s reasoning and any change in guidance language all at 12:00pm sharp.

At the 4 meetings each year that coincide with a Monetary Policy Report (February, April, July and November in 2026), the Bank also publishes its full set of economic projections at 12:00pm, and the Governor holds a press conference shortly afterwards, typically starting at 12:30pm. These MPR meetings tend to produce the largest market moves because the forecasts and press conference give markets far more to react to than the rate decision alone.

The decision itself is actually finalised the day before. The MPC’s final vote takes place at a meeting ending on the Wednesday, and the result is held back until the Thursday 12:00pm publication. The February 2026 minutes, for example, record a meeting ending on 4 February 2026, with the decision announced on 5 February 2026.

What Is the Monetary Policy Committee?

The Monetary Policy Committee is the 9-member body that sets UK monetary policy. It was created when the government granted the Bank of England operational independence in 1997, a framework later formalised in the Bank of England Act 1998. Its remit, set by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, is to keep CPI inflation at 2% while supporting the government’s wider economic objectives. If inflation moves more than 1 percentage point away from target in either direction, the Governor must write an open letter to the Chancellor explaining why and what the committee intends to do about it.

The committee has 5 internal members and 4 external members. The internal members are the Governor (currently Andrew Bailey), 3 Deputy Governors and the Bank’s Chief Economist. The 4 external members are appointed by the Chancellor for renewable 3-year terms, and are typically academic economists or market practitioners brought in to challenge in-house thinking and guard against groupthink.

Crucially, the MPC operates on a one-member-one-vote basis. The Governor has no veto and is on the losing side from time to time. Each member’s vote is published in the minutes, which makes the vote split one of the most closely watched numbers in UK finance. A 9-0 decision signals a settled committee; a 5-4 decision signals that policy could turn at the very next meeting. The December 2025 cut to 3.75% passed by 5-4, with Governor Bailey casting the swing vote, and the February 2026 decision to hold was also 5-4, with 4 members pushing for a further cut.

Vote splits matter because they are forward-looking. Markets read a growing minority as a signal of where the majority may move next. The shift from a unanimous 9-0 hold in March 2026 to an 8-1 hold in April 2026, where the dissenter voted to raise rates rather than cut them, was read as a clear hawkish turn even though Bank Rate itself did not move.

How the MPC Makes Its Decision

The MPC’s decision process runs over several days. Members receive detailed briefings from Bank staff on the economy and financial markets, hold deliberation meetings to debate the policy options, and then take a formal vote at a final meeting ending the day before the announcement. The Governor proposes the policy he believes can command a majority, and each member votes for or against, with dissenters’ preferred alternatives recorded in the minutes.

Three data series dominate the committee’s deliberations. The first is CPI inflation itself, published monthly by the Office for National Statistics, usually the day before the June, September and December decisions. The second is services inflation, which the MPC treats as the best gauge of domestically generated price pressure because it is driven by UK wages rather than imported goods prices. The third is private sector regular pay growth from the ONS labour market release. When wage growth and services inflation are falling together, the committee has historically gained confidence to cut; when either proves sticky, it holds.

Four times a year the decision is built around a full forecast round for the Monetary Policy Report. Bank staff produce projections for growth, unemployment and inflation 2 to 3 years ahead, conditioned on the path for Bank Rate implied by market pricing. In its April 2026 Report the Bank replaced its single central forecast with 3 named scenarios, reflecting the unusual uncertainty around global energy prices. Markets scrutinise these projections closely: if the Bank forecasts inflation below 2% at the forecast horizon, it is implicitly signalling that market pricing for rates is too high.

Bank Rate works through the economy with long lags. It directly sets the rate the Bank pays on commercial bank reserves, which feeds through to mortgage rates, savings rates, corporate borrowing costs and the exchange rate. The Bank estimates the full effect of a rate change takes around 18 months to 2 years to pass through to inflation, which is why the MPC describes itself as looking through short-term moves and setting policy for where inflation will be in the medium term.

What the Decision Means for Your Money

Mortgages. The effect depends entirely on your mortgage type. Tracker mortgages move automatically with Bank Rate, usually from the following month, so a 0.25 percentage point cut reduces the payment on a £200,000 25-year tracker by roughly £28 a month. Standard variable rates are set at each lender’s discretion but generally follow within weeks. Fixed-rate mortgages, which account for the large majority of UK home loans, do not change at all during the fixed term. New fixed-rate pricing is driven by swap rates, which reflect where markets expect Bank Rate to go over the next 2 to 5 years rather than where it is today. That means fixed rates often fall before a widely expected cut and can rise after a cut if the Bank signals it is pausing. If you are remortgaging, most lenders let you lock a rate 3 to 6 months ahead and switch to a cheaper deal if pricing improves before completion, which removes much of the timing gamble around individual MPC dates.

Savings. Easy-access savings rates tend to follow Bank Rate down quickly and up slowly. Fixed-rate bonds and cash ISAs, like fixed mortgages, are priced off market expectations, so the best 1-year and 2-year fixed deals typically fall in the weeks before an anticipated cut. Savers who expect further cuts can lock in current fixed rates ahead of MPC meetings rather than after them.

Loans and credit cards. Most personal loans are fixed for their term, so existing borrowing is unaffected. Credit card rates are variable but are priced far above Bank Rate, so a 0.25 point move makes little practical difference. New loan pricing drifts with the rate cycle rather than with individual decisions.

The pound. Higher UK rates relative to other countries tend to support sterling; cuts tend to weaken it. For households this shows up in holiday money and overseas transfer costs. The bigger moves usually come not from the decision itself but from surprises in the vote split or guidance, which can shift expectations for the whole path of future rates.

Annuities and pensions. Annuity rates are priced off long-dated gilt yields, which respond to the expected path of Bank Rate rather than its current level. A falling rate cycle generally pulls annuity rates lower over time, which is why some retirees choose to secure annuity quotes earlier in a cutting cycle. Defined contribution pension pots holding bonds gain value when yields fall.

How Markets React to BoE Decisions

Sterling is the most immediate mover. A decision or vote split that is more hawkish than expected, meaning rates held higher or fewer members voting for cuts, typically lifts the pound against the dollar and euro within seconds of the 12:00pm release. A dovish surprise does the opposite. Moves of 0.5% to 1% in GBP/USD around a surprise decision are common, while a fully priced-in outcome can pass with barely any reaction.

Gilt yields react at the short end first. The 2-year gilt yield is the purest read on rate expectations and can move 10 to 15 basis points on a surprise. Longer-dated yields respond more to the Monetary Policy Report forecasts and to what the decision implies about inflation over the next decade. UK bank shares often rise on hawkish surprises, while housebuilders and other rate-sensitive domestic stocks tend to gain on dovish ones.

The vote split is frequently the real market event. Because economists survey expectations for the vote as well as the decision, a 5-4 outcome when 7-2 was forecast moves markets even when Bank Rate itself is unchanged. The February 2026 meeting is a good example: economists polled by Reuters expected a 7-2 hold, the actual vote was 5-4 with 4 members pushing to cut, and markets repriced the chance of an early cut accordingly. Similarly, the single vote to raise rates in April 2026, the first vote for a hike since the tightening cycle ended in 2023, shifted expectations despite an 8-1 hold.

Recent Bank Rate Decisions

The table below shows the last 16 MPC decisions. The current cutting cycle began in August 2024, when the committee reduced Bank Rate from its 16-year high of 5.25%. Source: Bank of England Monetary Policy Summaries.

Two trends stand out. First, the pace of easing has been deliberately slow: 6 cuts in 22 months, roughly one per quarter, consistent with the committee’s repeated description of a “gradual and careful” approach. Second, the committee has been persistently divided, with 8 of the last 16 decisions passing by a single vote. The balance of dissent has also swung within 2026, from 4 members voting to cut in February, to unanimity in March, to 1 member voting to raise in April as energy prices pushed the inflation outlook higher.

Related Economic Events

The MPC’s decisions sit within a global central banking calendar, and UK rate expectations are heavily influenced by what other central banks and inflation data do.

• FOMC Meetings: the US Federal Reserve’s rate decisions set the tone for global borrowing costs and often move UK gilt yields and sterling more than domestic data does.
• ECB Rate Decisions: the European Central Bank sets policy for the UK’s largest trading partner, and the gap between Bank Rate and the ECB’s deposit rate is a key driver of the pound against the euro.
• US CPI Report: US inflation data shapes global rate expectations, and a hot or cold US CPI print frequently moves UK markets ahead of MPC meetings.

Upcoming Bank of England decisions on the calendar: June 2026, July 2026, September 2026 and November 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is the next UK interest rate decision?

The next Bank of England interest rate decision is announced at 12:00pm on Thursday 18 June 2026. The remaining 2026 announcement dates are 30 July, 17 September, 5 November and 17 December, all confirmed by the Bank of England.

What is the current UK interest rate?

Bank Rate is 3.75%. The MPC cut it from 4% on 18 December 2025 and has held it at 3.75% at all 3 meetings in 2026 so far, in February, March and April.

What time is the Bank of England decision announced?

At 12:00pm London time (7:00am ET) on the scheduled Thursday. The Monetary Policy Summary and minutes, including the vote split, are published at the same moment. At Monetary Policy Report meetings the Governor’s press conference follows at around 12:30pm.

How often does the MPC meet?

The MPC holds 8 scheduled meetings per year, roughly every 6 weeks. Four of them, in February, April, July and November in 2026, coincide with the quarterly Monetary Policy Report. The committee can also act between meetings in emergencies, as it did with 2 unscheduled cuts in March 2020.

Will UK interest rates go down in 2026?

It depends on inflation. As of early June 2026, market pricing implies the MPC is more likely to hold than cut at the 18 June meeting, and expectations for further 2026 cuts have been scaled back since February as higher global energy prices pushed UK CPI inflation up to 3.3% in March before it eased to 2.8% in April. The Bank’s April 2026 Monetary Policy Report set out 3 inflation scenarios rather than a single forecast, reflecting that uncertainty, and the April vote included the first member to vote for a rate rise since 2023. Markets reprice these expectations daily, so the picture can change quickly with each inflation release.

How quickly do mortgage rates follow Bank Rate?

Tracker mortgages move automatically, usually from the next monthly payment. Standard variable rates typically adjust within a few weeks at each lender’s discretion. New fixed-rate deals are priced off swap rates, which move on expectations rather than decisions, so fixed mortgage pricing often changes before the MPC announcement rather than after it. Existing fixed-rate borrowers see no change until their deal ends.

Schedule and decision data sourced from the Bank of England (official MPC dates and Monetary Policy Summaries). This page is updated after each MPC announcement.