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September 1, 2025   |   Deals

Cheapest ways to watch Sky Sports without a subscription (September 2025)

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You don’t need a Sky subscription to watch Sky Sports! Here are the latest deals for pay-as-you-go passes on NOW TV.

We’re big fans of NOW (or NOW TV as it was called). It’s a cheap way to watch Sky channels, and if you’re a fan of the Premier League, golf, cricket Formula 1 or dozens of other sports but can’t afford Sky, it can be a real money saver.

Some articles on the site contain affiliate links, which provide a small commission to help fund our work. However, they won’t affect the price you pay or our editorial independence. Read more here.

Sky Sports on NOW TV

If you get your TV via Sky, or even Virgin or BT, then you’ll likely have to commit to a long contract with your TV provider, probably 18 months. And it can be really expensive.

In terms of TV programmes and film channels, it’s almost always going to be cheaper to get those exact same channels via NOW instead.

It’s slightly more complicated for Sky Sports channels. The day passes are perfect for occasional users at under £15 a go (or less if you use a deal). Sadly it looks like the week pass is no longer offered.

The monthly passes however can be expensive. At £34.99 a month, you’ll probably pay more via NOW TV for this channel than with Sky if you have it every single month of the year.

But there are regular deals which bring the price down, often to £25 a month and sometimes as low as £18. This makes the price much more comparable and you have the added advantage that you aren’t committed to a contract. You can stop it or pause it month by month.

What is NOW TV?

Think of NOW (or NOW TV as it was called until spring 2021) as a pay-per-view iPlayer for the Sky TV channels. The sports passes give you access to all 11 Sky Sports channels without a contract, so you can watch per day or per month.

NOW TV can be streamed on your computer, tablet, some smart TVs, games consoles and devices such as the Chromecast, Roku and Amazon Fire Sticks.

The passes don’t include TV or movie channels, which you need to buy separate passes for – though there are plenty of discounts to be found and we’ve summarised the best on our  NOW TV deals page.

NOW TV Sky Sports free trials

Unlike the other NOW membership passes, there’s no free trial for any of the Sports options.

NOW TV Sky Sports day pass offers

Far better than a Sky contract is a £14.99 Day Pass. Despite recent price increases, we think this pass represents decent value for money for occasional viewing.

There used to be frequent discounts to be had, such as 20% off or bundles passes with a NOW TV smart stick. We’ll share any we find on this page but they aren’t as common now.

Buy a Sky Sports day membership from NOW

Month-long Sky Sports pass on NOW TV

If you’re going to watch a lot of the action on Sky Sports it’s probably cheaper to get a subscription via Sky, Virgin or BT. But if you want to dip in and out month by month you can buy a monthly pass for £34.99.

There are often discounts on the first month or two, sometimes as long as nine or 12 months, which we’ll include when we see them.

These offers are also sometimes emailed with unique codes to previous customers so it’s worth turning on the option for emails.

Don’t forget to cancel the month sports pass (which you can do any time) if you don’t want it to renew at full price.

Month passes also start from the moment you pay, unlike week and day passes which you activate when you want them to start.

You’ll also get one month free of Ultra Boost to stream in full HD on three devices or Boost to stream in full HD on two devices. Both will automatically renew after the first month at £9 or £6 a month, respectively, if you don’t cancel.

Buy a Sky Sports Month membership from NOW

Personalised discounts

From time to time you might see a better offer in your account or via email.

To receive emails you’ll need to have turned on the marketing preferences to allow this.

For in account offers you can see if you’re eligible if you head to the personalised My Offers section of your account. You’ll need to be signed in.

Check your account for offers

6 months at £26 a month – for all

Get an Unlimited Sky Sports membership for £26 per month (normally £34.99) for six months with NOW TV. The offer is open to new and existing NOW TV customers (for the latter it’s as long as you’re in the last month of an existing offer).

However, you’ll be locked into the full six months – so you can’t ditch it earlier if you want. It’ll also renew at full price if you don’t cancel in the last month.

You’ll also get a month’s free trial of Ultra Boost or Boost.

Get Sky Sports for £26

Sky Sports at £19.99 a month – for some

This offer or similar is regularly offered via emails sent to previous customers, giving 6 to 12 months at £19.99 a month.

It’s either a rolling contract for Sky Sports via NOW TV, or it’ll lock you in for a set period. You’ll save just over 42% on the standard monthly price. Importantly you aren’t tied into the full 12 months. You can cancel at any point. But you’ll pay full price if you restart at a later date.

It’s open to new NOW TV customers and existing customers who either don’t have a pass or are in the last 30 days of a previous offer – as long as you received the email.

Get a discounted month pass at NOW

Mobile Sky Sports passes (expired)

NOW TV has a mobile pass which you can only watch via an app on your phone. This makes them a fair bit cheaper – though it’s not always available to buy.

The mobile pass costs £5.99 for a month. It only has five sports channels – Sky Sports Premier League, Sky Sports Action, Sky Sports Arena and Sky Sports News.

It’s worth checking the day pass deals at the top of this page to see if a mobile pass is included, often for a month, if not more.

Buy a Sky Sports mobile membership from NOW

NOW TV Sky Sports Week pass offers

NOW TV no longer offers the week pass. Whether this is permanent or temporary remains to be seen. Occasionally you can still get the offers which we’ll share below, but chances are slim.

Sky Sports on Virgin Media

You can get Sky Sports via the standard Virgin Media TV box, or via the Virgin Media Stream box. The latter only allows streaming, not recording.

You can add Sky Sports channels in HD for £34.99 a month without a contract commitment to Virgin Media Stream, but you’ll need to pay the set up fee first.

Sky Sports on Sky

If you don’t want to ditch Sky for NOW, then you can still get Sky Sports channels direct. However, the best prices for the full package will usually require a new 24-month contract, which obviously ties you in, and will be more costly than the options above.

Sky Sports is currently £20 a month for 24-months for when you upgrade your current Sky package while new customers will pay £35 a month.

Sadly it doesn’t look like Sky is still offering a cut price deal just for the football channels or just for the F1 channel – but keep an eye out for either’s return.

Other sports broadcasters

Amazon Prime Video

You can also watch sport on Amazon.

Prime costs £95 a year, or £8.99 a month and includes other Amazon features. However if you just want the video channel for streaming sport, film and TV shows you can get this for £5.99 a month – which means you can pay just under £6 if you only want to watch the games. There’s also a free 30-day trial – just remember to cancel it if you don’t want to keep paying.

Save money on Amazon Prime Video

All the latest Amazon Prime Video deals

TNT Sport

You can now buy month passes for TNT Sport. More details on this and other deals here.

Watch TNT Sports without a subscription

All the latest TNT Sports deals

Read next

September 1, 2025   |   Deals

Investing offers and cashback deals

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Investment firms often give incentives like free cash to get you to give them your money.

These offers are extra cash payments and freebies you can get via starting an investment. We’re only sharing these promotions as a way to get some free cash rather than a recommendation of individual investment platforms or funds.

Some articles on the site contain affiliate links, which provide a small commission to help fund our work. However, they won’t affect the price you pay or our editorial independence. Read more here.

Here at Be Clever With Your Cash, we’re not regulated to give you financial advice. We aim to give you the facts about a provider or investment but it’s up to you to decide if it’s suitable for you. If you’re looking for more personalised guidance, find a financial adviser who can give you specific advice. Remember that your capital is at risk when investing — don’t invest more than you are prepared to lose. 

Welcome offers

These are offers to tempt you to sign up for an account. There may be a minimum amount you need to add in order to get the bonus. Remember, we’re just sharing offers here and not recommending any individual ISA investment platforms, so do your research before applying. Our S&S ISA best buy tables are a good place to start.

IG: up to £200 of free shares

Up to £200 of free shares
More Details
IG
Platform fees
£8 per month custody fee
Trading fee
£0
Minimum deposit
£0
You can reduce the custody fee to £0 per month when you place more than 3 trades in the previous quarter. New customers can get up to £200 of free shares when they sign up and invest at least £50 by 30 September 2025.
More details ▼
Additional Info

FSCS Protected: Yes

Transfer in existing ISA?: Yes

Interest on uninvested cash: 4.5% on up to £100,000

Flexible ISA: Yes

Foreign exchange fee: 0.70%

Fund fees: If you invest in funds, you'll have to pay fund fees depending on the funds you choose

Offer details: You can get up to £200 of free shares when you sign up for a General Investment Account, ISA or Self Invested Personal Pension and invest at least £50 between 1 September and 30 September 2025 .

▲

Trading 212: free fractional share

Free fractional share
More Details
Trading 212
Platform fees
£0
Type of investing
DIY investing
Minimum deposit
£1
New customers get a free fractional share worth up to £100 when you sign up via our link or use the code BCWYC
More details ▼
Additional Info

FSCS Protected: Yes

Transfer in existing ISA?: Yes

Fractional shares: Yes

Interest on uninvested cash: 4.90%

Trading fee: £0

Flexible ISA: Yes

Foreign exchange fee: 0.15%

Fund fees: If you invest in funds, you'll have to pay fund fees between 0.03% and 0.78% depending on the funds you choose

Offer details: Once the account is open, you then need to add at least £1 to your account within 10 calendar days. It will take about three days for the share to be added. This offer is only for Trading 212 Invest or the Trading 212 Stocks & Shares ISA.

Further details: Remember, the value of any money invested, which includes your free share, could go up or down.

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ISA vs GIA

When you open these accounts you can usually choose between an ISA and a general investing account. If you haven’t used your full £20,000 ISA allowance this financial year, and you don’t plan to do so before 5 April, then that’s the best account for you as any gains you make will be tax free.

If you can’t or don’t want to add any more to an ISA, you can opt instead for the general investing account, although some of these offers may not be available for this account. In this account, you’ll only pay tax on profits after selling your share if it brings you over the Capital Gains Allowance – which is £3,000 in 2024/25.

Bonus offers

These platforms offer a bonus for opening an account or transferring existing accounts. Sometimes the amount you get will depend on how much you deposit or transfer, while other times, it might be a percentage of what’s in the account.

Charles Stanley: up to £1,500 transfer bonus

Up to £1,500 cashback
More Details
Charles Stanley
Platform fees
0.3% (min £5 per month)
Type of investing
DIY investing
Minimum deposit
£0
You can get £300-£1,500 cashback when you transfer an ISA between £20,000 and £200,000
More details ▼
Additional Info

Trading fees: You get £50 worth of free trades every 6 months. Funds cost £4 per trade and shares cost £10 per trade.

Fund fees: If you invest in funds, you'll have to pay fund fees between 0.03% and 0.78% depending on the funds you choose. There are no platform or trading fees when you invest in Charles Stanley Multi Asset Funds

FSCS Protected: Yes

Trading fee: £50 worth of free trades every 6 months

Transfer in existing ISA?: Yes

Fractional shares: No

Interest on uninvested cash: No

Flexible ISA: No

Foreign exchange fee: 1.00%

Offer details: The amount you'll get in cashback depends on how much you transfer. A transfer of £20,000 gets you £300 cashback.

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September 1, 2025   |   Deals

TNT Sports deals and offers (September 2025)

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The cheapest ways to watch TNT Sports on your TV or app

If you want to watch Premier League and Champions League football, Premiership Rugby, along with other sports, on TNT Sports, then you’ll need to sign up via your pay TV provider or use the Discovery+ streaming service.

Here are the best offers right now to save you cash.

TNT Sports and Be Clever With Your Cash logos on an orange background

What is TNT Sports?

TNT Sports is the new name for BT Sports. It now sits under the Discovery brand, though you can add just the TNT Sports channels to your Sky, Virgin and other pay TV services.

The channels are:

  • TNT Sports 1, 2, 3, and 4: available in standard and high definition, plus six red-button channels.
  • TNT Sports Ultimate: stream select events in 4K HDR and Dolby Atmos (with a compatible device).
  • TNT Sports Box Office: get pay-per-view access to exciting sports events (for both subscribers and non-subscribers).

You can read more via this link about what the change means for existing BT Sport customers.

Get it via Discovery +

Discovery+ Premium for £30.99/mth

This new tier of streaming service Discovery+ gets you all the TNT Sports channels to watch via the Discovery+ app on your TV, smart stick, games console, computer, tablet or phone.

As well as the main TNT Sport channels you’ll also get Eurosport and lifestyle channels such as TLC, Quest and Discovery.

This is a monthly pass and you can cancel at anytime. This effectively replaces the old BT Sport monthly pass, though the difference is this will renew if you don’t cancel.

Get Discovery+ Premium

Get it via BT

Check if it’s already included

Some BT Broadband customers, usually long standing ones who used to get BT Sports for free, may now have access to the full Discovery+ Premium package for free.

You’ll be able to tell by checking eligibility here.

Check if you can get Discovery+ for free via BT

Add it to BT broadband from £20/mth

If you get your internet services from BT then you can get the TNT Sport channels for an extra charge each month by adding BT TV. The sports packages starts from £20 a month.

Although you can still watch via the BT Sport App you’ll need to move to the Discovery+ app in due course.

If you’re adding it to an existing BT contract then it could mean you start a new contract for all your BT services, possibly for 24 months.

Make sure you shop around for deals that’ll bring the price down, such as using cashback sites for an added bonus.

Add TNT Sports to BT broadband

Get it via Virgin Media

Virgin Media Stream/Flex: £18 per month

You can currently get TNT Sport channels for £18 a month for the first three months via Virgin Stream, now rebranded as Flex (although confusingly, the hardware is still called Stream). It’s a 30-day rolling contract so you can cancel at any time.

However you do need to be getting broadband via Virgin Media to get the deal.

Check out our review of Virgin Media stream to find out more.

Get TNT Sports via Virgin Media Stream

Get it with your mobile

If your mobile phone contract is with EE you can buy passes to watch on your phone using the Discovery+ app.

There are add-ons that let you watch it via the BT Sport app on your TV or improve picture quality to 4K.

Check if it’s already included

Some EE and BT Mobile customers that got BT Sports for free may now have access to the full Discovery+ Premium package for free.

You’ll be able to tell by checking eligibility here.

Check if you can get Discovery+ for free via EE

£20 a month mobile pass via EE

EE customers can get access to the TNT Sports via a Discovery+ Premium pass that costs £20 a month. You need to text SPORT to 150 to start your subscription. You can cancel at anytime.

Get TNT Sports via EE

“Free” with EE Inclusive Extras

If you have a reasonably expensive contract with EE (via the Full Works plan) you can choose TNT Sports as one of your Inclusive Extras.

TNT Sports is probably the most expensive of the options, though alternatives include:

  • Apple One Individual
  • Google One Premium AI Plan
  • Netflix Premium
  • Xbox Game Pass Ultimate

Though there will be cheaper SIM deals out there, with EE or another network, it is much less than getting TNT Sports (and Discovery+) direct from the streaming service. The difference though is you’re committing to a 24 month contract, and prices will likely increase each spring with inflation.

Ultimately you’re probably better off shopping around for a cheaper SIM-only deal and getting TNT Sports as and when you need it.

More on EE Inclusive Extras

Watch the Europa League, Conference & Champions League final for free (ended)

Though TNT Sports has the rights to show the finals of all European competitions, they’re continuing the offer to watch them for free without a subscription.

  • 21 May: Europa League final (Manchester United vs Tottenham)
  • 28 May: Europa Conference final (Chelsea vs Real Betis)
  • 31 May: Champions League final (Inter Milan vs PSG)

You can watch for free via the Discovery+ app on TVs and devices, or you can also watch via the Discovery+ channel on Prime Video.

If you don’t have an account you will need to register, but there’s no need to pay for any of the packages.

Sign up for Discovery+

Sky Sports and NOW deals

All my ways to save on this dedicated Sky Sports passes article

How to watch TNT Sports on your TV

So how do you get these options on your TV? 

Check for an app on your TV or smart device

You can watch TNT Sport on your TV if you have the Discovery+ app (and the right level of subscription).

This is available on the following (though check the full list here in case you have older incompatible models)

  • Amazon Fire Sticks
  • Apple TV
  • Chromecasts
  • Samsung & LG Smart TVs
  • Android TVs
  • Roku devices (including NOW sticks)
  • Sky TV
  • Playstation 4 & 5
  • Xbox One and XIS

Buy an HDMI cable

As long as you have a laptop with an HDMI connector, you can just buy a cable to connect to your TV. This should be the cheapest option – but I prefer the smart stick options!

Sport on other channels

You can also watch sport on Sky, Amazon and Premier Sports. Here’s our guide to the ways to save on each of them.

The best deals

Find our picks of the best offers in our dedicated deals library

Read next

September 1, 2025   |   Best Buy

The best debit and credit cards to use abroad

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Trading 212, Monzo, Starling, Chase, Halifax Clarity and more travel cards compared for overseas spending

If you’re heading out of the UK, using the wrong card for spending and cash withdrawals will mean you’re hit with extra fees on every transaction.

The good news is there are a decent number of debit and credit cards which offer near-perfect exchange rates. Here’s our guide to the top specialist travel cards.

Some articles on the site contain affiliate links, which provide a small commission to help fund our work. However, they won’t affect the price you pay or our editorial independence. Read more here.

Our top travel debit cards

The cheapest cards are usually specialist debit cards that come via specific current accounts. You don’t have to switch banks to get these – you can simply open up a brand new extra account, and many won’t perform hard checks on your credit report either.

If this is an extra account you get just for holidays, it’s easy to transfer money across, whether as a lump sum or as you go along, using your online or app banking. Or of course, it could be your main current account where your salary is paid each month.

A benefit of debit cards over credit cards is you won’t get charged interest to take cash out of an ATM, though as you’ll see a couple do have monthly limits on your fee-free spending or withdrawals.

It used to be there were only a handful, but there are quite a few to choose from. However, since Chase ended the cashback on overseas spending, there’s not really much to choose between the bulk of them. Here are our top picks.

Top pick: Trading 212 card

This is our top pick for 2025, though it does have some caveats.

Unlike most of the debit cards we’ve listed, this one from Trading 212 isn’t connected to a current account. Instead you’ll need to open up an investing account. But that doesn’t mean you need to invest at all.

You can simply transfer cash over and hold it in your spending pot, with the added bonus you’ll get 4.35% interest on the money until you spend it. However, if you do opt in to also earn interest on the cash the money then won’t necessarily be protected by the FSCS.

There’s also 0.5% cashback on purchases at home and abroad (temporarily increased to 1.5% until early September if you auto-invest your cashback). That’s great for holiday spending but there are better alternatives for spending in the UK.

The major downside is though you’re about to get fee-free cash withdrawals, that’s only with contactless ATMS. There’s not exactly a load of these in the UK, let alone overseas, so you’ll need a back up for taking money out on holiday.

You’ll also need to pay for a physical card, though most of the time you’ll hopefully be ok with adding it to your phone.

Trading 212 debit card summary

Spending overseasFee-free (Mastercard rate)
Cash withdrawals overseasFree, but contactless only
Other benefits0.5% cashback on all spending (capped at £15 a month)
Card delivery charge£4.95
Welcome offerFree share worth between £10 and £100
Open a Trading 212 account
Read customer reviews of Trading 212

BankFree spending?Free cash withdrawals?Credit checkExtra infoReviewsSmart Money People customer score
Top for cashback
Trading 212Yes, interbank rate£340 a day (if the ATM is contactless)Soft0.5% cashback

£4.95 charge for physical card		Trading 212 card review4.92 out of 5
Top picks for specific countries
ChaseYes, Mastercard rate£500 a day and £1,500 a calendar monthSoftNo charges on Chase machines in USAChase Bank review4.94 out of 5
Santander EdgeYes, Mastercard rate£300 a dayHardNo extra charges on Santander machinesour Santander Edge review3.75 out of 5*
Decent options
First DirectYes, Mastercard rate£500 daily limitHardour First Direct review4.7 out of 5
Halifax RewardYes, Mastercard rate£800 daily limitHard4.36 out of 5
HyperJar (prepaid card)Yes, Mastercard rateNo cash withdrawalsSoftNot a current account, so no FSCS protectionNot yet reviewed4.87 out of 5
KrooYes, Visa rate£200 limit per monthSoftATM charges will apply from 30 April 2025our Kroo review4.90 out of 5
Club LloydsYes, Mastercard rate£800 daily limitHardour Club Lloyds review4.42 out of 5
MonzoYes, Mastercard rate£400 (Europe) / £200 elsewhere every 30 rolling days / Unlimited if Monzo is your ‘main bank’Softour Monzo review4.92 out of 5
StarlingYes, Mastercard rate£300 daily daySoftour Starling review4.94 out of 5
Virgin Money M PlusYes, Mastercard rate£500 daily limit HardCan be opened and managed in-branch or via the phoneour Virgin Money M Plus review4.11 out of 5
*whole bank score

The following are also fee-free but only worth considering if you’re an existing customer or looking for extras like rewards and travel insurance.

  • Cumberland Building Society: fully fee-free but requires a £750 a month deposit to the account. Hard credit search
  • Halifax Ultimate Reward: a packaged account with travel, breakdown and gadget cover that’s got free spending
  • Santander (other accounts): you won’t be charged for cash withdrawals only if you use a Santander machine outside the UK, but you will pay for spending
  • TSB Spend & Save Plus: fee-free spending and the potential to earn £5 cashback a month, but has £3 monthly fee

Andy’s Top Tips

When you’re using one of these top travel cards, you’re often best paying in the local currency. If you pay in sterling, it’ll be swapped over at an exchange rate of the local bank’s choosing – which won’t necessarily be in your favour!

Also, though many of the cards we’ve mentioned are fee-free to use in ATMs, that doesn’t mean the local bank won’t add its own fee. So you’ll need to research for any that don’t do this in your destination, or plan ahead by making as few withdrawals as possible.

Our top travel credit cards

Specialist credit cards can be great for overseas spending as long as you pay off the debt before any interest is charged.

Credit cards are particularly handy for things like hiring a car or putting deposits down on hotel rooms. The money can be held on these without leaving your account. You’ll also get Section 75 consumer rights protection.

With all credit card applications, make sure you check your eligibility first if you can. And remember to clear the balance completely every month to avoid interest charges.

Top pick: Barclaycard Reward

This Visa card from Barclaycard is our top pick for credit cards. It offers fee-free spending and, unusually, ATM withdrawals – and there’s no interest on cash you take out. However, it’s still better for your credit report to use a debit card for cash.

There’s also 0.25% cashback on purchases at home and abroad. That’s great for holiday spending but there are better alternatives for spending in the UK. It is boosted though for newbies if they apply before early August.

However, if you do get this you won’t be able to get another Barclaycard, such as the Avios earning options.

Barclaycard Rewards credit card summary

Spending overseasFee-free (Visa rate)
Cash withdrawals overseasFree, though will show on credit file
Other benefits0.25% cashback on all spending
Boosted to 0.5% until the end of November if you apply before 4 August 2025
Card delivery chargeFree delivery
Check eligibility for Barclaycard Rewards
Read customer reviews of Barclaycard

Other fee-free credit cards

CardFree spending?Free cash withdrawals?Credit checkExtra infoReviewsSmart Money People customer score
Best for cashback
Barclaycard RewardsYes, Visa rateYesHard0.25% cashback
Other cards for cashback
Virgin Money Everyday Cashback credit cardYes, Mastercard rateNo (avoid)HardEarn 0.25% per £1, capped at £15 a month3.8 out of 5
Santander Edge credit cardYes, Mastercard rateNo (avoid)Hard2% cashback in first year, then 1%

Requires Santander current account

£3 monthly fee		Santander Edge credit card review3.75 out of 5*
Natwest Travel credit cardYes, Mastercard rateNo (avoid)Hard1% cashback on hotels, planes and other travel4.84 out of 5*
Virgin Atlantic Reward credit cardIn Europe, Mastercard rateNo (avoid)HardEarn 0.75% Virgin points per £13.8 out of 5
Yonder credit card (free version)Yes, Mastercard rateYes, up to £150 a day (but it’ll still show on credit report)Hard, but uses open banking tooEarn points that can be used to redeem rewards4.95 out of 5
Other fee-free cards
Halifax Clarity credit cardYes, Mastercard rateYes, but interest is addedHard4.11 out of 5
*whole bank score

Best smart travel spending cards

These cards aren’t normal debit cards, though they work just like one when you’re spending. You actually connect your existing current account or card to them via open banking. The conversion is made by the smart card at their exchange rate, which then takes the money from the underlying bank in pounds.

This makes it cheaper to spend overseas through other bank accounts that would normally be very expensive. They can be a great backup card, or even your primary travel spending card if you really can’t be bothered to go through the hassle of opening new accounts. There’s also no credit check.

Sadly, changes to Curve, our previous top pick, means it’s really not worth it. However, you can still get these features from Currensea.

Top pick: Currensea

With Currensea there are three options, but the free “essential” tier has a no extra fees on top of the exchange rates on your first £500 a month. You can take out £200 a month from ATMs for free.

The big issue could be the limits on which banks it works with. Right now that list is only the bigger banks:

  • Barclays
  • Bank of Scotland
  • Couts
  • First Direct
  • Halifax
  • HSBC
  • Lloyds
  • Nationwide
  • Natwest
  • RBS
  • Santander
  • TSB
  • Ulster Bank
  • Virgin Money

You’ll also need to pay £4.95 to get the card delivered.

When you sign up via this link you’ll be eligible for a £10 welcome bonus – however you’ll need to spend £150 in a foreign currency in the first six months to get the cashback.

Currensea smart debit card summary

Spending overseasInterbank/Mastercard rate on first £500 each month, then 1% FX fee on top
Cash withdrawals overseasFree up to £200 a month, then 2% FX fee on top
Card delivery fee£4.95
FSCS protection?Yes (on connected bank)
Sign up for Currensea
Read customer reviews of Currensea

The best cashback debit and credit cards

Check out my list of the best cashback cards

Best multi-currency cards to lock in a rate

The cards mentioned above will convert fee-free, but only on or just after the day you make the transaction. This means you’re not in total control of your budget when you’re away. If the pound were to fall against where you’re spending, you’ll ultimately spend more cash.

But there are options where you can pay fee-free on cards where you’ve already converted your pounds into another currency. Though of course, this could mean you miss out if the rate changes in your favour.

There’s usually a slight markup on the ‘interbank’ or ‘mid-market’ rates. This tends to be lower than the Mastercard or Visa rates, so even with the fee they’re often comparable.

When you spend with them, you’ll spend in the local currency. If you don’t have the local currency, most will let you pay fee-free and convert at the current rate.

However, there are usually quite strict limits on cash withdrawals, so you’ll likely want another card on your trip. Plus most of these will charge you for a physical debit card, so you’ll be relying on virtual cards added to your phone’s wallet if you want to avoid this fee.

The following are ones worth considering:

ProvderRateFree cash withdrawals?Card chargeExtra infoSmart Money People customer score
Revolut StandardInterbank (+ 1% on weekends)£200 limit per rolling month / max 5 withdrawals per rolling month£4.99Capped at £1,000 exchange per month4.92 out of 5
Trading 212Interbank + 0.15%£200 limit per month£4.954.92 out of 5
WiseInterbank + min of 0.33% (varies by currency)£200 limit a month / max 2 withdrawals a month£74.71 out of 5

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August 27, 2025   |   Articles

16 tricks for cheaper train tickets

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Our top ways to save on rail tickets.

As much as I’d like to use trains over cars and planes (and I do when I can), tickets aren’t cheap. Regulated rail fares increases were capped at a 4.6% in March last year in England and Wales, while Scotland capped price rises at 3.8% in April.

However, official figures from the Office of Rail and Road show train tickets in Great Britain have risen by 5.1% during the financial year to March 2025, with cheaper advance fares for south-east England trains going up by almost 10%.

And come March next year, we could expect further hikes! The size of any annual rise is limited to the Retail Prices Index (RPI) inflation figure – but only on regulated fares. Non-regulated ones, such as advance singles and day off-peak are set by the rail companies so could go up by more.

You’ll pay these highest prices if you buy your ticket at the station moments before your train is due to leave, but it is possible to significantly lower the cost. Here are my top tricks to bring down the price.

Some articles on the site contain affiliate links, which provide a small commission to help fund our work. However, they won’t affect the price you pay or our editorial independence. Read more here.

flexible train travel

Book in advance

An old tip, but still the best. Train companies generally release tickets 12 weeks in advance, and this is when they’ll be cheapest.

Even if you don’t get the advanced fares as soon as they go on sale, it’s still worth booking as soon as you know when you are going to travel. However, these tickets won’t be changeable or refundable.

Though the best fares often go quick, you can still get reduced fares the day before on many routes, and some even offer an advanced discount up until 15 minutes before departure.

It’s worth noting that some rail companies do sell tickets more than 12 weeks ahead of a journey, but watch out as journeys could be changed once engineering works have been confirmed, and they might also be more expensive.

Useful alerts for finding when tickets go on sale

As much as I hate Trainline (you’ll pay a fee for all tickets other on the day of travel), it does have a useful alert system where you can get email notifications for when advanced tickets are on sale. Simply enter the dates you’ll travel and your route.

Trainline also has a feature where it predicts when prices will change.

Travel off-peak

You’ll want to avoid peak travel. Hours vary by train company but think of peak as the the rush hour in the morning, usually until 9am for local journeys or 9.30am in bigger towns and cities. It’s also sometimes in the early evening too, around 4pm to 7pm, though that might just be leaving those big cities rather other trips.

But departures outside of these hours and at weekends, known as off-peak, and you’ll pay less. So if you can move your departure a little later to fit these times you’ll save money.

You may even be able to hack this on long journeys which start in peak hours but splitting your ticket to cover the peak period, and then another to cover the off peak part of the journey. Check too if Friday evening has been deemed off-peak.

Split your ticket

In the wisdom of the train companies, they’ve decided that it’s sometimes cheaper to get two or more separate tickets and split your journey along the way.

You might even be able to stay on the same train! We’ve written more here about how split tickets work.

There are a few different companies offering this now and I find they often come up with different routes. A few websites to look at:

Check if two singles are cheaper than a return

Defying logic, it can sometimes cost less to NOT buy a return ticket. Hopefully the website will show you those options when booking.

Get a season ticket

Travelling a lot? A season ticket might be cheaper. Most train companies will sell weekly, monthly and annual ones.

It’s worth seeing if your employer will provide an interest-free loan to buy the season ticket. You’ll pay it back over the year straight from your salary, so it’s a bit like getting the discount each month. If not, look at 0% purchase credit cards.

There are also now flexible season tickets for those commuting part of the week. When I analysed these they were a mixed bag with some cheaper and some more expensive than buying daily tickets.

Get a railcard

These have just increased in price from £30 to £35, but they’re well worth exploring – especially on an expensive ticket where the discount could cover the railcard’s cost immediately.

The terms & conditions for who and when you can travel vary for each type of card, but you can broadly save a third on travel, sometimes also the for people travelling with you.

For the 16-25 and 26-30 railcards, you can buy this up until the day before your birthday. So buy one the day before you turn 31, and it’ll last until you are almost 32.

If you live in London or the South East and already have an annual season ticket (including TFL) then you also have a Gold Card, which is pretty much the same as the Network Card.

From time to time there are discounts on railcards which we feature on our train deals page.

Look for sales and offers

Also on our train deals page you’ll find details of flash sales that happen throughout the year from providers such as Northern and Transpennine, or the network wide Great British Rail sale which usually occurs in January.

Travel as a group

Different providers might also offer special fares, for example three or more travelling at the same time could benefit from a GroupSave ticket. For groups larger than 10 people, it’s best checking with the rail company to see if there are other discounts.

Find a Weekender ticket

Some providers might also have special weekend return offers for departures Friday or Saturday and returning by Monday.

Earn cashback or points

Use the right booking app or payment card and you could be looking at 5% to 10% back on your ticket price, perhaps even more at times. And you can stack this with other offers or railcards.

We’ve covered this in detail in our guide to earning cashback on train bookings.

Don’t pay a booking fee

Use popular companies such as the Trainline and you’ll be hit with booking fees and delivery charges. It’s better to direct with the train operator and you’ll likely save yourself cash – even if they don’t operate the route. I tend to use the LNER site, though there are other decent train booking apps and sites.

You’ll need to pick up at the station or have digital tickets to avoid delivery charges with many booking websites.

Go First Class for less

It can sometimes cost less to travel in First Class if you leave it late and the advance fares are all gone, so don’t discount them completely.

Or on the day of travel the app Seat Frog will let you bid for a reduced upgrade to First. If you factor in the free food and drink on longer journeys this can be a bargain.

Claim a refund for any train delays

Each company has slightly different rules, but essentially if you are delayed more than 30 minutes once the journey has started there is a good chance you’ll be able to claim something, possibly 50%. If it’s over an hour you might get the whole lot back. A handful have cut the time to a 15-minute delay.

Ask at the ticket office or look on the train operator’s website for more information. If your journey is split between two different companies and a delay on the first one makes you miss the connection, it’s less likely you’ll get something. Here’s how to get a train refund.

Book a surprise fare

If you’re travelling via Avanti, then their Superfare gets you a discounted ticket, you just won’t know what time you’re travelling straight away. You’ll pick morning, afternoon or evening for your trip, and 24 hours before you leave you’ll be told which train you’re on. You can book between seven and 56 days in advance.

Buy a travelcard with your ticket

If you pick a train ticket to London and plan to use the tube or buses during the day, then adding in a railcard at purchase might work out cheaper -e specially if you’re using the overground or other trains within zones one to six. Plus you’ll be able to benefit from the cashback savings detailed above.

Combine with a day out

Technically this final tip won’t reduce the cost of a train ticket, but you can use that ticket to get you reduced entry to attractions like London Bridge and Legoland. Check out the National Rail Days Out guide to see who’s taking part in the promotion.

Read next

August 27, 2025   |   Deals

Supermarket deals, offers and vouchers

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Supermarket deals, including discounted gift cards, free chocolate, new online supermarket customer offers

There are so many supermarket-specific deals that we’ve moved this section away from our food and drink deals page. We’ll keep adding to the page as new offers appear.

Some articles on the site contain affiliate links, which provide a small commission to help fund our work. However, they won’t affect the price you pay or our editorial independence. Read more here.

Wording saying supermarket deals and the be clever with your cash logo on an orange background.

Current offers & sales

Iceland Bonus Club: free £5 voucher

If you join Iceland’s Bonus Club scheme before 1 September 2025, you’ll get a free £5 voucher.

If you’re already a customer, you can get £2 when you top up £20 during this week, boosted from £1.

The bonus earned will be added to your account on 2 September 2025 and will be valid to spend until 16 September 2025.

It’s a prepaid card, similar to a supermarket Christmas savings scheme, that you can top up to spend in Iceland. You can add extra money to the card using the app or when you shop at Iceland. They’ll give you £1 for every £20 you top up, and there are additional offers, like a 10% discount for over-60s every Tuesday.

Read our review of the Iceland Bonus Club

Join Iceland Bonus Club

Various supermarkets: free Chocomel 750ml

You can get a free 750ml carton of Chocomel from participating Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Asda stores. To get it, you just fill out this form and you’ll be sent a coupon to use at a Tesco store.

For other stores, you have to purchase the product, being sure to keep the receipt, then claim cashback using the link sent to you.

The offer is valid from 13 August 2025 until 30 September 2025, or until 20,000 free cartons have been redeemed, whichever is sooner.

Get free Chocomel

Morrisons: Wheel of Prizes

Morrisons is running a Wheel of Prizes promotion until 28 August. If you spend more than £10 and scan your Morrisons More card, then you can win freebies, money off vouchers, extra More points with your next shop or the chance to win a year of free shopping (worth £3,000).

Once you’ve shopped and scanned your card, just go into the app and you’ll be able to spin the wheel. You can only do one spin per week. There are some items not eligible to be included in the minimum spend — these are things like fuel, cigarettes and stamps, but Morrisons has provided a full list.

We also have a full review of Morrisons More with extra information on how to make the most out of the loyalty card.

Get Morrisons More

Supermarket gift card offers

Cashback on supermarket gift cards

There are a number of apps that’ll give you money back when you buy gift cards, including some of the major supermarkets. Use these for your everyday shopping and you’ll be saving every time.

The key apps are:

We’ve written in more detail about them here, including some welcome offers to boost your savings.

How to get discounted supermarket gift cards

Supermarket cashback apps

Waitrose: 4% back via HyperJar

If you use your HyperJar card to spend at Waitrose, you’ll receive 4% back, beating the cashback rate from other options including most discounted giftcards.

However, the credit you receive can only be used on future Waitrose shops, so only go down this route if you are going to visit regularly.

You don’t need to activate the offer as it’ll automatically earn you the money when you spend.

The HyperJar account is free, though if you don’t use it within a 12 month period a £3 monthly fee is charged. This is easily avoided by setting up a standing order to transfer over £1 every year, though if you’re using it for cashback on spending or on gift cards, that’ll also count.

Get HyperJar

Supermarket receipt cashback apps

You can often save a little extra on your groceries using supermarket cashback apps (read our review), and it’s worth checking to see if there are freebies.

An example week:

CheckoutSmart had free Rachel’s rice pudding at Morrisons, free Bahlens Pick Up biscuit bars at Sainsbury’s and free Little Dish kids meals at most supermarkets.

Over on Green Jinn there was free Kombucha and popped chips at Tesco, free Love Corn at Waitrose, Asda and Sainsbury’s and free protein shakes and pea milk at Morrisons.

While Shopmium offers included free oat milk at Sainsbury’s, free Iron Bru at Asda, Co-Op and more, free Rachel’s organic yoghurts at Waitrose and Sainsbury’s, free Jerky at Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s and free Diet Pepsi at Tesco. And don’t forget there’s also free Pringles for newbies (more on this below).

Shopmium: free Dairy Milk Buttons

One – Shopmium – offers a freebie to get you started. Right now it’s a pack of Dairy Milk Buttons.

Previously it’s been a pack of pringles, tub of Ben & Jerry’s, a snack jar of Nutella and it used to be a bar of Lindt chocolate, and has at times been a box of cornettos. It should say when you download the app.

Use the code KHMYEEFW to activate the offer. Once you have signed up you’ll need to buy the item and then scan your receipt to get the money paid back.

There are always lots of other discounts and freebies on the app, so it’s worth browsing to see what else you can buy.

Get the Shopmium app

Grocery delivery offers

Ocado: 25% off for new customers

If you shop at Ocado for the first time and use the code VOU4239713 you’ll save 25% off your first order. You’ll also get free “Smart Pass” delivery for three months. Minimum spend £60, max discount £20.

It’s also worth checking your email to see if you’re an existing customer in case you get sent a similar deal.

Save 25% off your first Ocado order

Iceland: £5 off your first online shop

Use code ICEFIVEOFF to save £5 on your first online shop over £45. There’s also free next day delivery too.

£5 off your first online shop

Zoom by Ocado: 20% off your first order

New to the speedy grocery delivery apps is Zoom by Ocado. Available in West London only at this time. Get 20% off your first order with the code WELCOME20.

New customers save 20% at Zoom by Ocado

Christmas bonus schemes

Christmas saver schemes 2025

Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Iceland and Morrisons all tend to offer Christmas savings schemes. Depending on how much money you add to your account you’ll get a bonus reward. You can use your savings for any shopping in-store or online at the selected supermarket.

The table below shows the dates for 2024. We’ll update it for 2025 later in the yer

SupermarketLast date to add moneyBonus
Iceland6 November 202415%
Tesco17 October 20246%
Morrisons31 October 20243%
Sainsbury’s1 November 20245%
Asda Christmas Savings Card11 November 20245.3%
Asda Christmas Saver Cashpot3 November 2024TBC
Co-opTBC 4%
More on the Christmas Saver cards

Expired offers

Lidl: free bakery item when you shop (ended)

When you buy at least one item worth at least 1p at Lidl and scan your Lidl+ App, you’ll get a “Spin to Win” opportunity in the app to use within 7 days. This will get you a voucher for one of Lidl’s baked goods. Some 11 items are included such as Lidl’s apple turnover, mozzarella and pesto pizza slice and cheese twist.

The offer is running until 20 August 2025. You can play the game multiple times but you must least at least a day between purchases.

Get Lidl+

Morrisons: 79% off ice cream stack (ended)

Right now you can get two packs of Angel Delight ice cream sticks for £1.25 rather than £5.50. Part of the reduction is via a two-for-£4 offer at Morrisons.

The next part is to claim back 50% of the price from cashback app Shopmium. Since the individual packs are priced at £2.75, and you’re buying two (one of each flavour), you’ll get £2.75 back to your Shopmium account. You can request to send this to your bank account.

That means you’ll have spent £4, got £2.75 back, leaving a total cost of £1.25. With four ice creams per pack, that’s 16p per ice cream.

It’s important you buy one of each flavour:

  • Butterscotch and chocolate
  • Strawberry and vanilla

If you don’t already have Shopmium, the welcome code KHMYEEFW will allow you to also claim back the cost of a bag of Cadbury Buttons.

Get Shopmium

Tesco: freebies on online shop (ended)

Until 20 July 2025, you can get a free full-sized jar of Bonne Maman Crunchy Hazelnut Chocolate Spread with your Tesco online shop. You just need to go here and add it to your basket.

You need to spend at least £50 online to get it, apply your Clubcard to your basket, and you can’t get it with Whoosh. It’s down as 1p, but you won’t be charged for the item.

There’s also a free Get More Vits drink available, and a small sample of Comfort Scent Booster.

See the free samples

Waitrose and Ocado: free Moma Oat Iced Latte (ended)

Until 26 July 2025, you can get a free Chocolate or Caramel MOMA Oat Iced Latte.

To get it, you need to go here to claim one, then purchase one from either Waitrose or Ocado, being sure to keep your receipt. Then, you just take a photo of the receipt and upload it to get up to £1.80 back.

The offer ends on 26 July 2025 or once 2,500 have been claimed.

Claim a free iced latte

Co-op: £5 off £30 spend on collection or delivery (ended)

You can currently get £5 off a £30 spend when you order a Co-op collection or delivery online and use the code SAVER5 at checkout. The offer runs until 23:59 on 17 June 2025.

It can’t be used against first-stage baby milk, cigarettes, tobacco or carrier bags, and Alcohol products will not count towards the minimum spend threshold. You also can’t use it in conjunction with any other offer.

There’s a delivery charge of at least £1.99 per order and this does not count towards the £30.

Shop at Co-op

Iceland: 8 freezer items for £10 (ended)

Iceland is currently running a 8 for £10 multibuy offer. The offer is on Birds Eye products and includes pizzas, veggies, fish fingers and fish cakes, amongst other standard frozen items.

Most of the items in the offer would usually cost between £1.50 and £3, so it’s a good opportunity to fill up your freezer if these are items you’d usually buy anyway.

Fill up your freezer for £10

Amazon Fresh: £15 off each of your first three shops (ended)

Get £15 off a minimum spend of £60 on your first three shops with Amazon Fresh. Use the code WELCOMEFRESH at the checkout when you place your first order and the offer will be automatically applied to your next two orders. Offer expires 8 January 2025.

Save £15 off your first three shops at Amazon Fresh

Morrisons on Amazon: £20 off each of your first three shops (expired)

If you’re new to Morrisons on Amazon, you’ll get £20 off each of your first three shops with the code NEW20OFF01, NEW20OFF02 and NEW20OFF03 for your first, second and third shops respectively. £70 minimum spend applies.

Save £20 off your first three shops at Morrisons on Amazon

Co-op: five freezer items for £5 (expired)

Co-op is offering five freezer items for £5 for loyalty members (£6 if you’re not a member).

Included in the offer are:

  • Young’s Chip Shop 2 Fish Steaks
  • Birds Eye 12 Garden Peas
  • Whitby Seafoods Scampi Bites
  • McCain Oven Chips
  • Carte D’or Madagascan Vanilla Ice Cream

Offer expires 19 November

Sign up for the Co-op membership

August 27, 2025   |   Articles

Energy price cap to rise by 2% from October 2025

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The average household will pay £1,755 a year

The energy price cap is going up, taking a typical bill to around £146 a month.

Although energy prices are significantly lower than their 2023 peak, they’re still almost double what we’d have paid pre-pandemic and pre-Ukraine invasion.

Here’s what you need to know about the cap and how much you’ll pay.

picture of a lamp and a plant

Some articles on the site contain affiliate links, which provide a small commission to help fund our work. However, they won’t affect the price you pay or our editorial independence. Read more here.

How the energy cap works

The energy price cap is a limit set every three months by Ofgem, the government’s energy regulator. It restricts how much an energy company can charge customers.

The cap applies to the price of your gas and electricity on your energy company’s default or standard variable rates. These basically can go up and down whenever the energy company likes. With the cap, the energy companies have to make sure their tariffs aren’t higher than the set rate.

Despite its name, it’s not a maximum amount that you can pay for your energy. Instead, the prices set on the cap are the maximum price per unit of energy you use. Ofgem announces the figure as an annual price, as you probably don’t have a clue how many kwh of energy your family uses. 

Because of this, the quoted “cap” (£1,755) is an annual price based on a typical household. If you use more energy, you’ll pay more than the cap every year. Use less and you’ll pay less.

There are separate caps for gas and electricity, and each cap is also made up of a standing charge (a set amount each day, regardless of whether you use any energy) and a usage charge. 

The cap will also vary depending on where you live in the UK. Prepayment caps used to always be a little higher, although this recently changed. The new energy price cap also applies to those with a prepayment meter. 

Crucially, if you’re on a fixed-rate deal, then the cap doesn’t apply and the price you pay won’t change until that fix ends.

What is the new energy price cap?

The latest announcement is a rise to the price cap from 1 October until 31 December 2025.

The new cap for a “household with average use” is £1,755 a year. This is up by about £35, or 2% from the current rate.

If you break it down to each actual unit cost, the average caps are:

 Energy price cap per unit and standing charge 1 July to 30 September 2025  Energy price cap per unit and standing charge 1 October to 31 December 2025  
Electricity25.73 pence per kWh
51.37 pence daily standing charge		26.35 pence per kWh
53.68 pence daily standing charge
Gas6.33 pence per kWh
29.82 pence daily standing charge 		6.29 pence per kWh
34.03 pence daily standing charge
Source: Ofgem

This does vary based on where you live, though the Ofgem website has a full breakdown of the regional caps for all standing charges and units.

What is the new average monthly energy bill?

Despite Ofgem attempting to present the information in a way we understand, the total annual cap figure isn’t always the easiest to comprehend – especially since our energy use changes throughout the year, but this cap only applies to three months.

At the same time, it’s not a flat increase to all bills as there could be different percentage changes to standing charges and unit rates.

So we think it’s easier to understand the price cap when you view it as a monthly direct debit. Your energy company calculates this by taking the predicted cost for a year based on your previous energy usage and dividing it by 12. It’s not 100% accurate, but it’s a handy comparison.

For the latest cap, the average monthly bill will be £146, which is £3 more each month than the current cap.

What is the current energy price cap?

The current price cap (1 July to 30 September) is £1,720 a year, based on the average household. This is with the newer typical use figures.

When will the new prices start?

This new energy price cap will come into play on 1 October and will remain in place until 31 December.

How much will you pay under the new energy price cap?

Remember, the price cap figures are based on average use. If you use more than this average you’ll pay more, if you use less, you’ll pay less. Plus, it can vary regionally, so you’ll need to check where you live to see exactly what it’ll be for you.

If you want to get a rough, quick idea, you can add 2% to what you pay at the moment (multiply your current monthly bill by 1.02). This doesn’t take into account the balance between unit and standing charges, or whether you’ve got an accurate direct debit set-up, but it could give you a sense of how much it’ll be.

Will you pay more or less money with the new energy price cap?

If you’re on a variable tariff

Broadly, anyone on a standard tariff will be charged more per unit of energy from 1 October 2025. Of course, the bill itself will be based on your actual energy use. 

If you’re on a prepayment meter

There is no longer a significant premium for those with prepayment meters. In fact, it’ll be slightly less at £1,707 on average for the year.

If you’re already on a fixed tariff

If you’re fixed on a tariff, your prices usually don’t change when the price cap changes. That’s because you’ve already agreed on a price per unit of energy for a fixed length of time with your energy supplier, usually 12 months.

Should you fix your energy?

We’ve seen more fixed deals returning to the market in the last couple of years, and right now, the cheapest 18-month fix is more than 14% lower than the cap. The price of these tariffs depends on where you live, but it’s still worth checking them out to see if you’ll save.

You’ll be comparing prices based on the price cap now, rather than October’s one, so this means your savings will be 2% less, so make sure you consider that.

If you go for one of these, bear in mind that some will charge an exit fee if you want to swap suppliers before the end of the term.

There are also some tariffs that track at below the cap, so you’ll always pay less – but not necessarily less than a fix.

Of course, these can change, so it’s worth using a comparison site to see what rates are available.

Will bills go up again?

The current predictions are that the price cap could see around a 2.5% cut in January, bringing bills back down to roughly the same as the cap now, at £1,712 a year, but a lot can change in that time.  

When is the next price cap change?

The price cap is reviewed every three months (before October 2022, it was every six months).

The price cap will next change on 1 January 2026. After this, it’ll change again on 1 April 2026, a change that will be announced in February 2026.

Price cap announcements & changes

  • Announcement by 27 November 2025 for 1 January 2026 change
  • Announcement by 25 February 2026 for 1 April 2026 change

How you can reduce your bill

Paying by direct debit will reduce your bills, so it’s well worth doing this.

Otherwise, it’s hard to do much to reduce what you spend on energy other than by using less energy. The standing charges will still apply, and bills will still be sky-high, but cutting back on gas and electricity will mean you pay less.

It’s worth giving accurate meter readings if you’re not on a smart meter. This will mean you’re more likely to have an accurate direct debit on current use, rather than what you used last year, and it stops you from falling into debt on your energy account. Your energy firm will probably not change this automatically, so you might need to ask.

Don’t forget, a direct debit averages the spend out over the year, so you should hope to overpay in the summer and underpay in the winter to help even out your bills.

How has the price cap changed?

As you can see, the really big changes have happened since October 2021. Before this, the average direct debit was under £100, so even with recent cuts, we’re still paying more, and even more on top if you had been saving with a lower fixed-rate deal.

These are the energy price caps going back to 2019, we’ve roughly adjusted them for the new typical use figures. You can see the historical price caps with the old figures below.

DateCost per year with new typical use figuresEPG & grantsAverage monthly billChange (+/-)
October to December 2025£1755N/A£146+2%
July to September 2025£1,720N/A£143-7%
April to June 2025£1,849N/A£154+6.4%
January to April 2025 £1,738N/A£145+1.2%
October to December 2024£1,717N/A£143+9.5%
July to September 2024£1,568N/A£131-7.2%
April to June 2024£1,690£3,000 EPG£141-12.34%
January to March 2024£1,928£3,000 EPG£161+5.13%
October to December 2023£1,834£3,000 EPG£153-7.95%
July to September 2023£1,992£3,000 EPG£166-17.04%
April to June 2023£3,151£2,402 EPG£200+50.33%
January to March 2023£4,110£2,402 EPG & £67/m grant£1330.00%
October to December 2022£3,409£2,402 EPG & £67/m grant£133-15.62%
April to September 2022£1,893£158+54.35%
October 2021 to March 2022£1,227£102+12.21%
April to September 2021£1,093£91+9.21%
October 2020 to March 2021£1,001£83-7.46%
April to September 2020£1,082£90-4.50%
October 2019 to March 2020£1,133£94-5.98%
April to September 2019£1,205£100+10.29%
January to March 2019£1,092£91
Estimated costs, due to the change in the typical domestic consumption

Historical energy price caps

These are the energy price caps from before the typical use figures changed. This change made it difficult for us to compare new caps with the old ones, so we’ve converted the old price caps into ones with the new typical figures above.

DateMax annual bill for a typical householdAverage monthly direct debitChange +/-
October to December 2023£1,923 price cap / (£3,000 EPG)£160.25-7%
July to September 2023£2,074 price cap / (£3,000 EPG)£173– 17%
April to June 2023£2,500 EPG / (£3,280 price cap)£208 (£273.33 without EPG)+ 19% (-23.3%)
January to March 2023£2,100 (£2,500 EPG – £400 grant) / (£4,279 price cap)£175 (£356.58 without EPG and grant)+ 0% (20.5%)
October to December 2022£2,100 (£2,500 EPG – £400 grant) / (£3,549 price cap)£175 (£295.75 without EPG)+ 8%(+80%)
April to September 2022£1,971 price cap£162.25+54%
October 2021 to March 2022£1,277 price cap£106.42+12%
April to September 2021£1,138 price cap£94.83+9%
October 2020 to March 2021£1,042 price cap£86.83-7.5%
April to September 2020£1,126 price cap£93.83-4.5%
October 2019 to March 2020£1,179 price cap£98.25-6%
April to September 2019£1,254 price cap£104.50+10.2%
January to March 2019£1,137 price cap£94.75

Winter fuel payments u-turn

People were in uproar last year when Winter Fuel payments, which were worth up to £300, became means-tested, meaning more than 10 million pensioners lost out. It was announced earlier this year that the threshold would be adjusted to ensure more pensioners could claim it again. It’s estimated that around nine million people who couldn’t get it last year will be able to get it this year.

The Winter Fuel Payment will be made to everyone in England and Wales who was born before 22 September 1959. You’ll get between £100 and £300 to help with your bills. Payments are made automatically, unless you choose not to get it.

If you’re eligible for it, you’ll get a letter in October or November letting you know how much you’ll get, and it will be paid in November or December 2025. If you don’t get a letter, you might need to claim it.

However, if you’re earning above £35,000 per year, then your Winter Fuel Payment will be recovered later through HMRC with a change to your tax code.

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August 20, 2025   |   Deals

Spotify music streaming deals (August 2025)

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The latest free trials, vouchers, discounted annual passes and hacks to save money on Spotify.

Some articles on the site contain affiliate links, which provide a small commission to help fund our work. However, they won’t affect the price you pay or our editorial independence. Read more here.

Spotify and Be clever with your cash logos on a blue background.

How much does Spotify cost?

Following a price increase in April 2024, Premium prices all went up by £1 or £2, but some will be able to get the Basic tier which reverts the cost back:

PlanPremium Monthly priceBasic Monthly price
Individual£11.99£10.99
Duo£16.99£14.99
Family£19.99£17.99
Student£5.99£5.99

New Spotify customer deals

A couple of times a year there tends to be a new customer deal offering three months for 99p. When these come about I’ll list them below. Otherwise, new customers can always get one month for free.

Four months free Spotify with Just Eat

New customers can get four months free via Just Eat until 28 February 2026. You can cancel anytime or pay £11.99 once the free trial ends.

Get four months of Spotify

Three months free

Until 22 September 2025, you can get three months of Spotify Premium for free if you’re a free member or a new customer who hasn’t tried Spotify before.

After the free months, the subscription will renew at £11.99 per month.

Get three months free

Three months free Spotify via Freenow

New subscribers can get three months free with Freenow.

You need to redeem the offer by 30 November 2025, and it isn’t available to anyone who has tried Spotify Premium before. You need to cancel the subscription afterwards if you don’t want to pay full price as it renews at £11.99 per month.

Get three months of Spotify

Three months free Spotify via H&M

New subscribers can get three months free if you apply via the free H&M membership.

Head to the H&M app and in the offer section of your H&M account you’ll need to generate a code to trigger the free Spotify trial.

You need to redeem the offer by 4 November 2025.

This isn’t open to current subscribers, and remember to cancel the subscription if you don’t want to pay full price, as it’ll renew at £11.99 per month after three months.

Get three months of Spotify

One month free Spotify

If there isn’t an increased offer, when you go direct to Spotify new customers can get usually one month for free.

Get one month free Spotify Premium

Previous Spotify customer deals

These offers for ex-customers are rare, but still appear from time to time.

Two months for £5.99

This “welcome back” offer gets you two months of Premium for the cost of half of one month. It’s running until 22 September 2025 — we usually see it run two or three times a year, usually April, August and November.

It’s for those who had a Spotify Premium account but cancelled it more than 30 days ago. But if you’ve used one of these offers in the last 24 months, you won’t be eligible this time.

Look out for an email offering you this, or you can also log in and see if the offer is displayed in your account. It’s for the individual Premium account only, not Duo, Student or Family.

Here are the previous dates from recent offers to give you an idea of when it might return.

  • Mid April to 19 May 2025 (for those who cancelled before mid March 2025)
  • End of November – 31 December 2024 (for those who cancelled before November 2024)
  • Mid August to 17 September 2024 (for those who cancelled prior to 12 July 2024)
  • Mid April to 14 May 2024 (for those who cancelled before 18 March 2024)
  • Mid January – 14 February 2024 (for those who cancelled before 1 Jan 2024)
  • 27 November – 31 December 2023 (for those who cancelled before 27 October 2023)
  • August to 12 September 2023 (for those who cancelled before 16 July 2023)
  • 21 April – 16 May 2023 (for those who cancelled before 19 March 2023)
  • 29 November – 31 December 2022 (for those who cancelled before 28 October 2022)
  • August/September 2022 (for those who cancelled before mid-May 2022)
  • April – 19 May 2022 (for those who cancelled before 14 March 2022)

Existing Spotify customer deals

You don’t need to pay full price for Spotify as an existing customer. Here are my top ways to save.

12 months of Spotify Premium for the price of ten (ish)

This is a decent deal from Amazon for existing Spotify Premium customers. It’ll cost you £120 rather than £144, so you’ll get two months free based on the new prices.

You can it as a digital or physical gift card that is sent in the post. Frustratingly you can’t use gift cards with Family, Duo or Student accounts. It also won’t work on Basic plans.

You can stack this with an existing gift card, or buy one now to add at a later date, though you can’t have more than 18 months of credit on your account at any time.

Buy a year of Spotify at Currys

Downgrade to Spotify Basic

This new, slightly cheaper, version of Spotify started in May 2024 but seems to have disappeared.

However if you see it in your account, you get everything that Premium offers such as offline listening (downloads) and no-adverts, but you do sacrifice audiobooks. Not all users will be able to get this, so you’ll need to check your accounts to find out. Here’s everything you need to know about Spotify Basic.

Shared Spotify subscription deals

If you live with others who pay for their own Spotify Premium or Spotify Basic you can save cash by combining them via a Duo or Family plan.

Here’s the breakdown per month per person, with annual costs per person in brackets.

Plan1 person2 people3 people4 people5 people6 people
Premium£11.99 (£143.88)N/AN/AN/AN/AN/A
Basic£10.99 (£131.88)N/AN/AN/AN/AN/A
Premium Duo£16.99 (£203.88)£8.50 (£101.94)N/AN/AN/AN/A
Basic Duo£14.99 (£179.88)£7.50 (£89.94)N/AN/AN/AN/A
Premium Family£19.99 (£239.88)£10 (£120)£6.66 (£80)£5 (£60)£4 (£48)£3.33 (£40)
Basic Family £17.99 (£215.88)£9 (£107.94)£6 (£72)£4.50 (£54)£3.60 (£43.18)£3 (£36)
Monthly cost per person on each plan (annual in brackets)

Spotify Family for £19.99 a month and get six accounts

A decent option if there are three or more of you with your own Spotify accounts. Subscribe to a Family pass and you can pay £19.99 all in. So the more of you, the cheaper it gets. You can share with two people but the Duo option will work out cheaper.

Get Spotify Family

Spotify Duo – £16.99 a month for two

Duo is the best option for two people living at the same address, and this is the one we use.

You’ll pay £16.99 a month for Spotify Duo, so £3 cheaper than the family option (£36ish less a year), or £7 less than two standard Premium accounts (£83.88 total less a year). You will be asked to verify your address.

Get Spotify Duo

Save on Apple Music

Here are ways to save on Apple Music streaming including free trials and offers.

Save on Tidal, Amazon, Deezer & more

Here are more music streaming free trials and offers if you fancy changing from Spotify.

August 18, 2025   |   Deals

Theatre deals and discounts

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Tickets to shows may be pricey, but there are ways to save

Looking for cheap deals and discounts for theatre tickets in the West End and elsewhere? We’ll post regular sales or decent offers here.

Don’t forget to read our guide to getting cheap theatre tickets.

Some articles on the site contain affiliate links, which provide a small commission to help fund our work. However, they won’t affect the price you pay or our editorial independence. Read more here.

Annual sales and offers

These are offers that tend to come back each year, so keep an eye out.

London Theatre Week (February and September)

Twice a year, TodayTix and other sites offer discounts at a decent number of West End shows in an event called London Theatre Week. It was originally running from 18 August to 31 August 2025, but it’s now been extended to 7 September.

During these dates, you can book to visit the theatre in the coming months for heavy discounts — prices are either £15, £25 or £35.

The dates you can get discounts on vary massively between productions, but for a lot of them, you can book for a couple of months. There are tickets to The Great Gatsby, My Neighbour Totoro, Hamilton and Hercules included in the promotion.

It’ll likely return again in February 2026.

Buy London Theatre Week tickets

Kids Theatre Week (June to September)

Kids Theatre Week runs every summer, and tickets generally become available in early June for shows in August. Tickets went on sale this year on 10 June 2025, and they tend to sell out fast, but more tend to be released to coincide with the start of the summer holidays.

You can get one free child’s ticket (and two more at half-price) at a series of West End shows when you buy one full-paying adult ticket. It’s for shows from 21 July to 31 August, not just one week. A child is anyone 17 years old and under.

Tickets are limited with big shows quickly selling out, but there are plenty of options including Hamilton, Harry Potter And The Cursed Child, Mamma Mia and kids’ shows The Lion King, Matilda The Musical and Alice in Wonderland. And keep an eye out, as more seats might be released for those popular productions.

The only thing I’d say is the adult tickets are full price so you might be better off looking at other deals if more than one adult is attending.

Get Kids Week tickets

Official London Theatre See It Live (December 2024 to March 2025)

Official London Theatre holds a New Year sale semi-regularly, with some big shows at least 20% off. It’s been rebranded this year to See It Live (previously it was Get Into London Theatre or the London Theatre New Year sale).

Tickets are either £10, £20, £30, £40 or £50, with no booking fees.

This year it’s running from 10am on 26 November 2024 for performances until February. It’s often extended into March.

Buy See It Live tickets

Love Your Local Theatre (March to May)

Each March there’s usually an offer run in conjunction with The National Lottery. In 2022 it was a 2-4-1 vouchers while in 2023 it was a free £25 Theatre Token. The latter went viral and all tokens were snapped up within 24 hours.

However, unused tokens from March were made available again, with a final chance to get tokens taking place in May.

Tickets are limited and go very fast. If you join the waiting room before 11am you’ll be randomly allocated a spot in the queue. Those joining after 11am will be put at the back of the queue – which likely means you’ll miss out.

In order to claim the voucher you’ll need a Lotto ticket or scratchcard. You’ll find a reference number on your Lotto card which you’ll enter if you make it through the queue.

This event did not take place in 2024 or 2025.

Get 2-4-1 local theatre tickets

Flash promotions & sales

These offers are special deals that we’ve spotted

Central Tickets: Get 10% extra credit with your first top-up

If you top up your Central Tickets account for the first time, you can get 10% added by Central Tickets, up to the value of £10. 

The credit in your account is used as payment for seat filling bookings you make through Central Tickets. It can’t be used on West End offer tickets (listed in a separate tab on their site).

You won’t be able to get a refund on it, and it won’t be protected if Central Tickets were to go bust, so make sure you’ll make use of the money you top up before you do so. 

Central Tickets will add up to £10, so you could get £110 worth of credit for £100. 

Read more on being a seat filler
Sign up for Central Tickets

Theatre Tokens gift card discounts

There are occasionally discounts such as save 10% on Theatre Tokens – the official theatre gift card that’s valid at hundreds of locations nationwide and the TKTs Booth in the West End. We’ll add them here when we spot them.

Theatre Tokens: 10% off

If you buy a Theatre Tokens gift card and use the code Tfl then you can get 10% off your purchase. These gift cards can be redeemed at over 300 theatres nationwide and don’t have an expiry date.

You can order a total of £500 worth of gift cards per household, which would get you a £50 discount.

Get 10% off

Previous offers

TodayTix: Boxing Day sale from £15 per ticket (expired)

TodayTix tends to run sales throughout the year and the latest is offering tickets from £15 for Boxing Day. There’s no end date published, but I’d expect it to be until the end of January, if not early December (though the actual performances can be after these dates).

Get tickets at TodayTix

TodayTix: 25 shows for £25 each (expired)

Until 4 June you can book £25 tickets at 25 different West End shows via TodayTix. This includes Book of Mormon, We Will Rock You, Wizard of Oz and Punchdrunk’s Burnt City.

Book via TodayTix

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