NS&I puts Green Savings Bonds back on sale with an increased rate

Savings giant NS&I put its Green Savings Bonds back on sale on Wednesday with an improved rate.

The new issue of the bonds pays a fixed rate over a three-year term of 3.82% AER (annual equivalent rate).

Launched in 2021, Green Savings Bonds enable savers to help fund green government projects across the UK.

The minimum investment in Green Savings Bonds is £100, with a maximum limit of £100,000 per person for each issue.

Investors need to be aged 16 or over to purchase the bonds. The full amount deposited is held for three years and cannot be withdrawn during this time.

NS&I offers a range of savings and investments to more than 24 million customers. It is backed by the Treasury, so money held with it has 100% security.

Green Savings Bonds are used alongside gilts to raise funds for green projects as part of the UK Government Green Financing Framework, which was updated in November 2025 to include nuclear energy projects.

The bonds are separate to NS&I’s net financing target, which is set by the Treasury each year.

The new bonds are issue eight, with issue seven paying 2.95% AER.

Rachel Springall, a finance expert at Moneyfactscompare.co.uk said the bonds may be appealing “to savers with big pots who are happy to forgo higher interest rates available elsewhere”.

She said: “This latest offering from NS&I will likely be an enticing choice for savers who are content to lock their cash away for three years. However, the rate can be beaten by alternative brands, as many of the top rate deals pay 4.50% or more.”

Ms Springall highlighted a deal from Tandem Bank paying 4.56% AER fixed for three years.

She said Castle Trust Bank and Gatehouse Bank also offer alternatives to NS&I’s deal.

In March, it emerged that NS&I is preparing to pay out hundreds of millions of pounds after failures meant that bereaved families were missing out on savings pots.

NS&I notified the Treasury in December of an operational failure to trace accounts comprehensively of some customers who had died.

The savings provider has apologised and said in a statement last month that “the issue has been resolved for current and new bereavement claims and robust measures have been introduced to ensure this does not happen again”.