A gilt's gross yield to maturity and a savings rate both answer "what does this pay?", but they pay in different ways and the comparison only means anything when every assumption is stated — so the deposit rate here is illustrative rather than a real product.
What is actually being compared
A gilt's gross yield is the return the price implies if the gilt is held to maturity with its coupons reinvested at the same rate, compounded once a year. A savings rate is the interest a deposit account pays on the balance, usually quoted as an annual figure without any holding period. Putting the two side by side is a reasonable thing to want to do, but they are not the same quantity, and a fair comparison has to set one principal and one horizon for both and state every allowance it assumes.
The deposit rate used in this note is illustrative only, chosen to make the comparison concrete. It is not a real product, it does not name a bank or an account, and no provider's current rate is being quoted.
What the report for 4 June 2026 recorded
The stored report for 4 June 2026 gives the gilt side of the comparison. The nearest conventional gilt to two years' maturity carried a gross yield of 4.126%, down 2.2 basis points on the previous report; the nearest to five years' was 4.333%, the ten-year 4.854% and the thirty-year 5.618%. Sixty-nine conventional gilts fell and one rose, so the day was a small, broad easing. These are the day's own figures, quoted for 4 June 2026 and no other date.
| Nearest to | Reported gross yield | Change since previous report |
| 2 years | 4.126% | −2.2 bp |
| 5 years | 4.333% | −1.4 bp |
| 10 years | 4.854% | −1.2 bp |
| 30 years | 5.618% | −1.2 bp |
Setting a gilt yield beside an illustrative rate
For the sake of comparison, take a deposit rate of 4.00% a year. That figure is illustrative: it is a round number chosen to sit near the short-dated gilt yields so the comparison has something to say, and it is not offered as anyone's current rate. Set it beside the gilt gross yields from the 4 June 2026 report and the shape is clear — a short gilt and the illustrative deposit are close, while longer gilts offer more gross yield for tying money up for longer.
| Measure | Rate | Basis |
| Gilt, nearest to 2 years (gross yield) | 4.126% | Report for 4 June 2026 |
| Gilt, nearest to 5 years (gross yield) | 4.333% | Report for 4 June 2026 |
| Gilt, nearest to 10 years (gross yield) | 4.854% | Report for 4 June 2026 |
| Gilt, nearest to 30 years (gross yield) | 5.618% | Report for 4 June 2026 |
| Illustrative deposit rate | 4.00% | Illustrative only, not a real product |
The gilt figures are gross, before income tax on the coupons. A net yield applies income tax to those coupons and comes out lower, by an amount that depends on the reader's tax position and the personal savings allowance. A savings rate is typically quoted gross as well, so neither column is after tax until a reader applies their own rate to it. Comparing a gross gilt yield with a gross savings rate is like for like only before tax, and the conventional gilts list is where each gilt's own gross and net figures can be read for the day.
The four ways the two are not alike
A fair comparison says what the two instruments are not, and there are four points that matter. A gilt's price moves before maturity, so its value on a given day is not the amount that will come back; a deposit's balance does not move with a market in the same way. A savings rate may be variable and a fixed-term deposit rate fixed, whereas a gilt's gross yield to maturity assumes the coupons are reinvested at that same rate. A gilt held to maturity returns its nominal value, but selling early realises whatever the price is that day. And the Financial Services Compensation Scheme covers deposits and not gilts, so the two do not carry the same protection.
- State one principal and one horizon before comparing any two rates.
- Keep gross beside gross, or apply the same tax assumption to both.
- Remember the gilt's gross yield to maturity assumes holding to maturity and reinvesting at that rate.
- Note that a deposit is protected by the compensation scheme and a gilt is not.
- Treat any rate — gilt or deposit — as a figure for a stated date, because a rate today is not a guide to what it will be.
Background, not advice
This article compares a gilt's gross yield with an illustrative deposit rate on stated assumptions; it is general background, not investment, tax or legal advice for any reader's circumstances, and it recommends nothing. The gilt figures are those the report for 4 June 2026 published; the deposit rate is illustrative and names no provider. A rate on any date, gilt or deposit, is not a guide to what it will be, and the primary sources for a real yield are the day's report and, for a deposit, the provider's own terms.