UK Personal Finance News: July 2026

The new quarter opened with a higher energy price cap and a mortgage market that keeps drifting cheaper, while savers still have decent easy-access rates to work with. Regulators were busy too, with the FCA setting out plans to better protect money held in self-invested pensions. Here is what moved between mid-June and the start of July, and what it means for your household budget.

Energy price cap rises 13% from 1 July

Ofgem’s price cap went up by 13% on 1 July, adding roughly £18 a month to a typical dual-fuel bill. The rise is driven almost entirely by wholesale gas costs: gas unit rates are up around 24%, while electricity rose about 5%. The cap limits the unit rate and standing charge, not your total bill, so the more you use the more you pay, which makes this a good moment to check your standing charges and whether a fixed deal now beats the capped rate. If a bigger bill is squeezing what is left over each month, our guide to investing on a small salary shows how to keep building a pot even when the budget is tight. The official figures are on Ofgem’s price cap page.

Lenders keep trimming fixed mortgage rates

Through the back half of June and into July, major lenders including Nationwide, NatWest and Halifax cut selected fixed rates again, some for the third time in a matter of weeks, widening the choice of deals below 4.5% and taking the cheapest fixes to around 4.19% plus fees. Commentators are talking up a possible rate war, though the cuts have been small and frequent rather than dramatic, and rates remain higher than before this year’s spike. If you are remortgaging in the next six months it is worth lining up a deal now, since most offers can be held for months and swapped if pricing falls further. Current rates across lenders are tracked by Uswitch.

Easy-access savings still pay around 4%

With the Bank of England holding the base rate at 3.75% on 18 June, the top easy-access accounts are broadly where they were, and you can still find 4% or more without locking money away. That matters because cash you will need within a few years belongs in savings, not the market, and this is one of the last tax years in which under-65s can shelter a full £20,000 in a cash ISA before the allowance drops to £12,000 in April 2027. For money you genuinely will not touch for years, though, cash tends to lose ground to inflation over time, which is where our explainer on how to start investing in the UK comes in. Martin Lewis’s rundown of the hold and what it means for savers is at MoneySavingExpert.

FCA moves to tighten protection for SIPP savers

On 22 June the FCA published consultation paper CP26/20, proposing a new regime to make sure money and assets held in self-invested personal pensions are securely held, accurately recorded and properly overseen. The aim is to set consistent minimum standards across all SIPP providers, closing gaps where some savers’ money is not covered by the same client-asset safeguards that apply elsewhere. Nothing changes today and the consultation runs until 24 August, but the direction is a welcome one for anyone running their own pension. If you are weighing up whether a SIPP suits you, start with our guide on how to open a SIPP in the UK. The FCA’s proposals are summarised by CMS.