Best inflation-beating savings accounts – could your money be working harder?

Inflation climbed to 3.3% in the 12 months to March 2026, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), as the UK started to reckon with the inflationary impact of the war in Iran.

The rise in inflation was widely expected as the Iran war has ravaged global supply chains and led to steep increases in the price of oil, having a knock-on effect on everything from the price of petrol and diesel to plastic.

Before the war, which started on 28 February, most economists believed inflation would gradually slow through 2026 and return to the Bank of England’s 2% target in the second quarter of the year.

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That is now incredibly unlikely. Almost all forecasts now expect inflation to rise again in 2026.

Higher inflation means prices are set to rise faster than expected, damaging the purchasing power of your cash.

That means it is all the more important to make sure your savings are being held in savings accounts that pay inflation-beating interest rates – so at least more than 3.3%.

But not all savings accounts on the market offer rates that guarantee real-terms growth. Many have interest rates that are lower than the rate of inflation, meaning your money is slowly becoming worth less in real terms.

We look at how you can protect your savings from inflation, and which savings accounts offer inflation-busting rates.

Are your savings keeping up with inflation?

Put simply, inflation measures how much the overall level of prices for goods and services consumed by households has increased in a given period of time.

Most economists agree that inflation of around 2% is healthy for an economy as it incentivises people to spend their money instead of hoarding it and waiting for prices to come down.

Whether inflation is at the 2% target or much higher, any level above 0% will mean your money is losing value in real terms. The only thing that changes is how fast this happens.

To mitigate the effects of inflation on your savings, you will need to put your money into an account that pays an interest rate at or above the current level of inflation.

The latest data from Moneyfacts shows the average interest rate for a savings account is 3.46%, which is just slightly higher than March’s inflation reading.

Over the entire market, 1,626 savings accounts beat inflation, including 145 easy access, 135 notice accounts, 140 variable rate ISAs, 403 fixed rate ISAs and 803 fixed rate savers, according to Moneyfacts.

While this data shows that the average savings account will stop your money from losing value in real terms, it will not provide you with much more than that, giving you just 0.16% growth every year.

The slim margin also means that if inflation continues increasing, as most economists think it will, your savings could soon be losing value in real terms.

The Bank of England (BoE), for example, currently predicts that price growth will creep close towards 4% in the next few months.

To protect against this, consider ensuring your savings are in an account with a high interest rate.

The top easy-access savings account on the market right now is Chase’s Saver With Boosted Rate, which pays an interest rate of 4.5%, inclusive of a 2.25% boost for 12 months. It beats March’s inflation reading by 1.2 percentage points.

To get the deal, you must be a new Chase current account customer and open the saver within 31 days of opening your account. You can put a maximum of £3 million into the savings account with withdrawals allowed, although the FSCS only covers up to £120,000 per person, per banking licence.

Be aware that the 2.25% boost will expire after 12 months, meaning your interest rate will tumble down to just 2.25% after a year, assuming the variable underlying rate hasn't changed.

But that isn’t the only option. We look at the best savings accounts currently on the market which can help you beat inflation.

Each of the accounts listed below currently have the highest rate on the market for someone saving £10,000 and are all FSCS-protected, according to Moneyfacts.

Which are the best savings accounts to beat inflation?

Best easy-access savings accounts

Best easy-access cash ISAs

Best one-year fixed savings accounts

Best one-year fixed cash ISAs