NS&I Products Explained: Every Account, Current Rates and How to Choose in 2026

NS&I sells nine on-sale products today. Two are tax-free, two are variable easy-access, four are fixed-term (five if you count Green Savings Bonds separately), and one — Premium Bonds — pays no interest at all. The table below is the current picture, straight from the NS&I interest rates page.

The chart tells the story in one look. On fixed terms, the grey and blue bars nearly touch. On easy access and cash ISAs, NS&I is still leaving real money on the table. Note that the market-best figures are the top no-bonus rates tracked in our Best Savings Accounts guide and Fixed Rate Bonds guide as of mid-August 2026 — cahoot's 4.52% easy access, Trading 212's 4.56% cash ISA, and fixed rates of 4.85% for one year rising to 5.00% for three and five.

The Premium Bonds prize fund rate is 3.80%, with odds of 22,000 to 1 for every £1 Bond. That 3.80% figure is the mean — the average across all holders — not the return you will personally achieve. The NS&I Premium Bonds page is explicit: prizes range from £25 to £1 million, all tax-free, and the rate and odds are variable.

Because the prize pool is top-heavy — a handful of £1 million jackpots at the top and a vast sea of £25 prizes at the bottom — the median holder earns meaningfully less than the headline. A £50,000 holding gets about 600,000 entries a year and roughly 27 expected prizes, worth about £1,900 in expectation. But the typical large holder lands nearer 3.3% once the jackpot skew is removed. Put that in pounds: £50,000 at 4.52% in cahoot's easy-access account pays £2,260 of guaranteed interest before tax, while the same £50,000 in Premium Bonds typically delivers closer to £1,650 of prizes. Smaller holdings are worse: with £1,000 you have roughly 0.55 expected prizes a year, so most years you win nothing at all.

What Premium Bonds do offer is tax-free upside outside your ISA. For an additional-rate taxpayer who has already filled a £20,000 ISA, the choice is not "3.80% versus a savings account" — it is "tax-free versus 45% tax". That is the one scenario where Premium Bonds genuinely earn their keep, and it is worth reading both sides of our Premium Bonds vs savings accounts debate.

This is where NS&I has done the work. Guaranteed Growth Bonds — the "Growth" option of British Savings Bonds — now pay 4.72% for one year (Issue 91), 4.70% for two years (Issue 79), 4.68% for three years (Issue 81) and 4.75% for five years (Issue 73). Guaranteed Income Bonds pay the same AERs but with monthly interest, so the gross rates are slightly lower: 4.63% gross on the one-year, 4.65% on the five-year.

Put those against the open market. GB Bank's one-year fix pays 4.85% and Market Harborough Building Society leads the two-year market at 4.90%. NS&I's 4.72% one-year fix is 13 basis points behind the leader. For the five-year, NS&I's 4.75% is 25 basis points behind the 5.00% available at the top. That is a genuinely narrow premium to pay for the unlimited Treasury guarantee — and for a balance above £120,000, it is a premium worth paying without a second thought.

Two caveats the old version of this article got wrong. First, you cannot access the money early — these bonds have no early-withdrawal route at all, no "90 days' interest" penalty, no partial redemption. The Guaranteed Growth Bonds page says plainly that you cannot take money out until the bond matures. Second, interest is taxable and counts towards your Personal Savings Allowance in the tax year the bond matures, so a five-year bond drops its entire accumulated interest into one tax year.

Green Savings Bonds are the quiet fifth option: Issue 9 pays 4.45% fixed for three years from £100, funding green government projects. The rate is below the equivalent Growth Bond, which tells you NS&I is asking you to accept a slightly lower return for the green label.

The variable accounts are the weak spot. Direct Saver pays 3.45% gross/AER, accepts £1 to £2 million, and pays interest annually. Income Bonds pay 3.40% gross / 3.45% AER monthly, from £500 to £1 million.

Cahoot's no-bonus easy-access account pays 4.52% AER. That is a 1.07 percentage point gap — £107 a year on a £10,000 balance, £535 on £50,000. The Treasury guarantee does not close that hole for the overwhelming majority of savers, because the FSCS already covers £120,000 per banking licence, which is more than most people hold.

The two exceptions are large balances and the ultra-cautious. Direct Saver's £2 million ceiling makes it the natural sweep account for money above the £120,000 FSCS limit, and for anyone who wants their emergency fund where a bank failure simply cannot touch it. Everyone else should read our FSCS protection explainer and keep the easy-access money with a challenger bank.

The Direct ISA pays 3.80% tax-free/AER on up to the £20,000 ISA allowance for the 2026/27 tax year. That is behind Trading 212's market-leading 4.56% cash ISA by 76 basis points — a meaningful gap, though smaller than the easy-access shortfall.

Three details changed since this guide was first published, and they matter. The Direct ISA is not a flexible ISA: every deposit in the tax year counts towards your allowance even if you withdraw it. NS&I no longer accepts transfers in from other cash ISA providers, so you cannot consolidate an old ISA into it. And it is online or phone only — no postal management. Full details are on the Direct ISA page.

The Junior ISA pays 3.70% tax-free/AER on up to the £9,000 Junior ISA limit, locked until the child turns 18, when it converts to an adult cash ISA. Unlike the Direct ISA, it does accept transfers in from an existing Junior ISA or Child Trust Fund — see the Junior ISA page. For higher-rate and additional-rate taxpayers who have used their allowance, both products beat a taxable account on a net basis, but the Cash ISA market leaders pay more for the same tax shelter, so compare before you commit — our Cash ISA guide has the full table.

Index-linked Savings Certificates remain off sale. They have not featured on the NS&I products page for years, and there is no sign of a reintroduction — if you hold maturing certificates, NS&I will write to you with your options rather than renewing them automatically into a new issue.

There is also a postal-only Investment Account paying 2.05% gross/AER, the lowest rate in the range. NS&I does not promote it, and you should not use it — the Direct Saver pays 1.40 percentage points more for the same guarantee.

Run the decision in this order: access, tax, balance.

Need instant access? Use Direct Saver only if your balance is above the £120,000 FSCS ceiling or you specifically want Treasury backing. Otherwise a 4.52% challenger account beats it by a wide margin.

Can you lock money away? The fixed range is now the strongest reason to use NS&I. The 13–25 basis point gap to the market leaders is trivial for the guarantee you get, and on a £500,000 balance held across the £120,000 FSCS limit, NS&I's fixed bonds are arguably the single best fixed-rate home in the country.

Are you a higher or additional-rate taxpayer? Fill your £20,000 ISA first — Trading 212's 4.56% beats the Direct ISA — then look at Premium Bonds for surplus cash above the ISA limit, where tax-free prizes beat a 45% tax charge on ordinary interest.

Saving for a child? The Junior ISA at 3.70% is fine but not market-leading; check the best junior rates before defaulting to NS&I, since the money is locked for years and a half-point difference compounds.

The through-line is this: NS&I's fixed range is now worth your money on merit, not just safety. The variable range still asks you to pay a premium for the guarantee that most savers do not need. Our savings hub links everything above into one place, and the companion guide to NS&I Savings Products 2026 covers the product mechanics in more depth.