Whatever your savings goal, here we outline the best easy-access, fixed term and regular savings rates you can earn on your cash right now. Here’s a rundown of the top interest rates on savings accounts at the moment:
Whilst rates have been falling in recent months, savers still have a genuine choice when it comes to getting more from their money after over a decade of paltry rates. If you’re willing to lock your cash away, you can earn more annual interest on your savings.
Read more: Best fixed-rate savings accounts
*This article may contain affiliate links that earn us revenue
What is happening to savings rates?
The Bank of England started increasing the base rate of interest in December 2021 in an attempt to bring down soaring inflation. In less than two years, it had shot up from a 300-year low of 0.1% to the current rate of 5.25%. We go into more detail on how interest rates affect inflation.
When the base rate rises, interest rates on savings accounts tend to follow. And they did.
Back in December 2021, the average easy-access savings rate based on a £10,000 pot was a paltry 0.19%. Now it is 3.15%, according to data provider Moneyfacts.
Saving rates on the top fixed rate account have fallen by around a percentage point since the summer 2023 peak. The dip is partly due to speculation that the Bank of England will start to cut the base rate soon.
It is worth remembering that the top easy access accounts pay around 2 percentage points more than the average, so it pays to shop around. But take note of the personal savings allowance, or you could end up taxed on your savings interest.
Saving for the long-term? Open a stocks and shares ISA with AJ Bell
If you’re saving for a long-term goal, then why not consider keeping your money in a tax-efficient home? A stocks and shares ISA can provide this environment, and the potential to out-earn even the best of savings accounts.
If you do wish to consider this option, then AJ Bell’s award-winning stocks and shares ISA could be the ideal platform.
Best easy-access accounts
Best for: Savers with a lump sum in their bank account which you might need in a hurry.
Easy-access savings accounts are simple types of savings accounts that let you withdraw your money without notice.
However, the interest rates are often lower compared to notice accounts or fixed-rate accounts.
Find out more about easy-access savings accounts.
What is the best easy-access account?
Cynergy Bank is currently offering a top easy-access rate of 5.10% AER. Based on a deposit of £5,000 this would give you £255 in interest payments over a year, about £100 more than the average easy access account.
Customers can get the higher rate of interest paid for the first 12 months, after which time it drops to 4.00% AER. You can also access your money at any time, with unlimited, free withdrawals, however this is only available to online customers.
If you have come into a windfall and already have your emergency pot of cash savings covered, read our article on how to invest £10,000.
Below are several easy-access savings accounts with the highest rates:
Best notice savings accounts
Best for: Savers who can plan ahead and don’t need easy access.
Notice savings accounts require you to wait for a set amount of time to access your money.
We explain how notice savings accounts work.
Below are the top notice savings accounts:
Best fixed-rate savings accounts
Best for: Savers who want to be sure of the interest they will earn over the term but don’t need access to their cash.
Fixed-rate savings accounts are also known as fixed-rate bonds. We explain how fixed-rate savings accounts work.
Below are the one-year fixed-rate bonds paying the highest interest to savers. Currently, you can’t earn more by locking your cash away for longer. However, rates change frequently. See the best options on our fixed rate bond page.
Below are the fixed-rate accounts with the highest interest rates:
Sharia compliant bonds
There are also Sharia-compliant fixed-term bonds, which can often be found paying the best rates on the market. Sharia-compliant savings accounts comply with Islamic law, but are available to any saver.
As Sharia law states that money itself has no intrinsic value, the payment and receipt of interest is forbidden. Instead, these account pay an expected profit rate (EPR).
These accounts have been part of the savings landscape for some time now and while the EPR is not guaranteed, the rates on fixed-term accounts have always been paid as expected.
Below are the current top three Sharia compliant fixed-term bonds:
Best regular savings accounts
Best for: Those who don’t have a lump sum but who want to save money on a regular basis.
If you don’t have a lump sum to invest, you could be a regular saver instead by putting aside a set amount each month.
Read more: how regular savings accounts work.
What is the best regular saving account?
While regular saver rates might sound good on paper, you might actually be able to earn more interest over a year by opting for a top easy-access instead. This is because, unlike regular savings accounts, many easy-access accounts don’t have strict contribution limits so you can pay more into them.
For more information on other providers that offer top rates to existing customers, check out the top linked regular savings accounts.
Below are the best regular savings accounts.
Best cash ISAs
With a standard savings account, the interest gained might be subject to income tax depending on how much you earn and what tax-band you are in. We go into detail on this in our guide on the personal savings allowance.
Not so with a cash ISA. While rates may be lower than other savings accounts, it shelters your money from the taxman. We explain how ISAs work.
- The average easy access ISA rate is 3.37%
- The average 1-year fixed Cash ISA rate is 4.54%
As interest rates rise, people are getting caught out by this rule. Almost 1.8 million people ended up paying tax on their savings interest in the previous tax year, according to investment platform AJ Bell.
That’s 82% more than in the previous tax year. The amount of tax savers paid to HMRC also doubled to £3.4 billion in 2022/23, up from £1.2 billion the year before.
We also round up the top-paying cash ISAs, including easy-access and fixed-term products.
Will savings rates go up?
Interest rates on savings accounts had been on an upwards trajectory due to the Bank of England increasing the base rate but then started to drop when it looked like we had reached peak rate.
The Bank of England has held held the base rate at 5.25% since September, with all speculation that the next movement will be down.
- As of 23 March 2024 the average rate on easy-access savings accounts is 3.15%
- That’s a big increase from September 2022 when the average rate was 0.85%
- Compare this to November 2021 when the average rate was 0.19%
- But you can still get a top rate of up to 5.10% if you shop around
- The average 1 year fix pays 4.60%
However, the banks don’t tend to pass on the full rate rise to savers and don’t expect the rate to increase automatically on your savings account either.
It’s worth keeping an eye on the top-paying accounts listed above so you can switch to a better deal if your savings aren’t performing very well.
In the table below we outline how average savings rates have changed:
| Av savings rates | May 2023 | Jul 2023 |
Aug 2023 |
Sept 2023 |
Oct 2023 | Nov 2023 | Dec 2023 | Jan 2024 | Feb 2024 | March 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Easy access | 2.14% | 2.42% | 2.81% | 2.96% | 3.17% | 3.19% | 3.18% | 3.15% | 3.17% | 3.28% |
| Notice account | 3.09% | 3.50% | 3.90% | 4.14% | 4.23% | 4.31% | 4.44% | 4.39% | 4.30% | 4.28% |
How to get the most interest on your savings
Even after savings rates have risen, you still need a top-paying one to beat inflation. That means it is important to be vigilant with your savings.
Make sure you:
- Shop around for the best savings rates
- Move your money to a better rate when your current rate ends
- Check whether your cash is protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme
- Check that your provider is authorised and regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority and that it is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority
- Think about the different savings accounts options available
Tip: Regular savings accounts usually offer the highest interest rates, but you are often restricted on the amount of cash you can put in each month.
NS&I Premium bonds
A popular option with savers are Premium Bonds from the Treasury-backed bank National Savings & Investment (NS&I).
You don’t earn interest from Premium Bonds so they are not a savings account in the traditional sense. But they offer the chance to win monthly cash prizes of between £25 and £1 million.
You can invest from as little as £25 in Premium Bonds and hold a maximum of £50,000. Saving the maximum would give you 50,000 entries in the monthly prize draw.
The odds of winning a Premium Bond prize is increasing. NS&I increased the prize fund to the highest rate in more than 24 years.
From March’s draw, holders will have an effective prize fund rate of 4.4%, down from 4.65%. The rate has more than tripled since September 2022 when it was 1.4%. Find out more about how Premium Bonds work.
Bear in mind that while you won’t lose money, you might not earn anything. Your chances of winning are 21,000 to 1, up from 34,000 to 1 in May – the best level since the April 2008 prize draw.
There are still only two chances each month to win the £1 million prize.
How the Premium Bond prize fund ‘effective rate’ has changed since May 2022:
| Month | Rate |
| May 2022 | 1% to 1.4% |
| September | 1.4% to 2.2% |
| December | 2.2% to 3% |
| January 2023 | 3% to 3.15% |
| March | 3.15% to 3.3% |
| July | 3.3% to 3.7% |
| August | 3.7% to 4% |
| September | 4% to 4.65% |
| March 2024 | 4.65% to 4.4% |
We compare Premium Bonds to other lottery-style savings accounts.
NS&I also has a variety of other savings accounts on offer:
- Income Bonds – 3.65% AER
- Direct Saver – 3.65% AER
- Direct ISA – 3% AER
- Junior ISA – 4% AER
In January it reduced the rate on its Green Savings Bond to 2.95% AER a year. We have more information about NS&I’s Green Savings Bond.
Is my money protected?
When opening a savings account it’s important to make sure that your money is protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). This is in place to protect and compensate savers if their chosen provider ceases trading and is unable to return their funds.
The FSCS is in effect a “last resort” fund for savers, if their bank or building society goes bust. It is funded by the industry in the form of a levy paid by each UK-authorised financial services firm.
Bear in mind that there is a limit as to how much of your deposits are protected by the FSCS. For savings this currently stands at £85,000 a person, per banking licence.
Those with joint accounts would be protected up to £170,000 in total.
The Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has said the central bank is considering whether to increase the level of protection for savers.
Remember that if you hold more than £85,000 in two banks that are part of the same institution, only £85,000 will be protected.
For example, if you have accounts with both Halifax and Bank of Scotland, which are both owned by Lloyds Banking Group, you will only be protected up to £85,000 across those accounts.
A bit about our independent ratings
It is best to use independent, whole-of-market best-buy tables to compare savings rates. This article uses tables produced by Savingschampion.co.uk.
Savings Champion monitors all the savings accounts available in the UK. It puts the top from each category into its best-buy tables based on merit – not because of commercial links.
The best way to beat inflation eroding your cash savings is to consider investing. Check out our guide for beginner investors.
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