What is the Bank of England base rate right now?

Wikipedia's Bank of England article lists Bank Rate at 3.75%, but the infobox is undated. Check the Bank's own Monetary Policy Summary for the level and the date it took effect.

How high did UK interest rates go in the last tightening cycle?

According to Wikipedia's official bank rate article, the MPC lifted Bank Rate to 0.25% in December 2021 on an 8-1 vote, then raised it thirteen more times to 5.25% on 2 August 2023.

Was UK inflation 3.1% in September 2026?

That figure comes from a circulating summary and could not be matched to an Office for National Statistics consumer price inflation release in the sources available, including its reference month and measure.

Bank of England Rate at 3.75%: What We Could Verify

Q: How often does the Bank of England decide interest rates?

Wikipedia's Monetary Policy Committee article says the committee meets eight times a year, for three and a half days, to set the official UK interest rate.

3.75% is the level of the Bank of England's Bank Rate recorded in Wikipedia's entry on the central bank, and it is the only current UK policy-rate figure this article was able to stand up. A summary circulating on 17 September 2026 said the Bank held rates while UK inflation climbed to 3.1% and the Federal Reserve moved the other way; none of those three claims could be matched to a Bank of England statement, an Office for National Statistics release or a Federal Reserve decision in the sources available here.

What checked out, and what did not

What is verifiable is the level and the machinery. Wikipedia's Bank of England article lists Bank Rate at 3.75% and Andrew Bailey as governor since 2020, and its Monetary Policy Committee article states the committee meets eight times a year, for three and a half days, to set the official UK interest rate.

The unverifiable part is everything specific to the reported decision. No dated Bank of England press release, minutes or Monetary Policy Summary confirming a hold on 17 September 2026 appeared in the searches behind this piece. Nor did an ONS consumer price inflation release showing 3.1%, nor a Federal Reserve statement raising the federal funds target. A 3.1% reading, if it exists, would sit above the Bank's inflation target, but "above target" and "rising" are different claims and neither could be checked against a dated statistical release.

One related detail did check out, and it is context the original summary omits: Wikipedia's Federal Open Market Committee article lists Kevin Warsh as chairman and John C. Williams as vice chairman. That establishes who chairs the US committee. It says nothing about the direction of US rates, and it cannot be used to support a claim that the Fed was tightening.

Key figures and the page each came from

Metric	Value	Source
Bank of England Bank Rate (infobox, undated)	3.75%	Wikipedia, "Bank of England"
Peak Bank Rate in the 2021-23 tightening cycle	5.25%, from 2 August 2023	Wikipedia, "Official bank rate"
Bank Rate as of 21 August 2024	5.00%	Wikipedia, "Official bank rate"
Scheduled MPC rate-setting meetings per year	8	Wikipedia, "Monetary Policy Committee (United Kingdom)"
Australia policy rate, last change +0.25	4.35%, effective 6 May 2026	Wikipedia, "List of countries by central bank interest rates"
Brazil policy rate, last change -0.25	14.00%, effective 5 August 2026	Wikipedia, "List of countries by central bank interest rates"

Why "global tightening" does not describe the 2026 rate table

The circulating summary frames a UK hold as a break from central banks worldwide responding to inflation. The one cross-country dataset retrieved here does not support that framing. Wikipedia's compilation of central bank policy rates shows moves in both directions with 2026 effective dates: Australia at 4.35% after a 0.25 percentage point increase on 6 May 2026, alongside cuts such as Brazil to 14.00% on 5 August 2026, Bangladesh to 9.50% on 2 August 2026 and Belarus to 9.25% on 20 May 2026. Read together, that is a split picture, not a synchronised hiking cycle.

Two cautions on that table. It is a secondary compilation and each row carries its own effective date, so a listed rate may be months old and should be checked against the relevant central bank. Rate levels are also not comparable across countries as a measure of policy stance, because inflation, instrument definitions and maturities differ.

The UK history is the more useful comparison. On Wikipedia's account, the MPC voted 8-1 in December 2021 to lift Bank Rate to 0.25%, then raised it thirteen more times to 5.25% by 2 August 2023, with the rate at 5.00% as of 21 August 2024. Set against the 3.75% figure in the Bank of England infobox, that implies UK policy has been eased by roughly 1.5 percentage points from the cycle peak. That subtraction is arithmetic on two published figures, not a dated Bank of England confirmation of today's level.

What a reader still cannot know

Four things remain open, and each matters more than the headline. The MPC vote split is unknown, and a 9-0 hold and a 5-4 hold carry very different signals about the next meeting. The date and level of the most recent change to Bank Rate are unconfirmed here, which means the 3.75% figure should be treated as a level to verify rather than a decision to report. The inflation print behind the story is unconfirmed, including its reference month and whether the 3.1% figure refers to headline CPI, core or a services measure. And nothing retrieved supports a claim about sterling: a currency move on a single day would not, on its own, establish that a rate decision caused it.

The fix is cheap. The Bank of England publishes its Monetary Policy Summary, minutes and the vote count at the moment of each decision, and the ONS publishes consumer price inflation with a stated reference month and adjustment basis. This article does not claim the reported hold did not happen. It reports that the evidence needed to confirm it was not found.