Image Archives - Page 4 of 35 - Be Clever With Your Cash

Updated June 8, 2026 | Deals

Cashback site welcome bonus offers

Get new member bonuses of up to £43 combined

If you want to boost your savings when shopping online, there’s a simple way to make money – cashback.

If you’re new to cashback sites, you can nab sign-up offers giving you close to £50 in free cash when you first buy something.

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 cashback sites afford to give you money

Retailers often pay a commission to websites that help them make a sale. Cashback sites simply pay you a cut of this money if you shop with them.

How to get even more money from the cashback sites

Since there are a few of these sites, they’re all competing for you to shop via them – which means they all give incentives to get you to sign up.

So even if you’ve already registered with one, you can sign up with another and shop away.

They all have different custom cashback rates at different shops, so it’s worth signing up for them all and shopping around for the one which will give you the most money.

Right now you could earn a free £30 for doing your shopping as normal, and get further cashback on top. Here are the best ones:

New customer offers

TopCashback: £18 bonus when you spend £10

You can get an exclusive £18 new member bonus. You need to spend £10 via one of the retailers listed on TCB to get this bonus (excluding takeaways). You must go via this link or the button below.

Read the full terms and conditions when you click through. Ends 30 June 2026.

Quidco: £18 bonus when you spend £10

The best deal is for subscribers to our free newsletter who get access to an exclusive £18 first-time bonus when they spend £10. You’ll also get the cashback offered by the retailer on top.

Once you sign up, you’ll need to click on the sign-up confirmation email that will be sent immediately. If you don’t see it, please check your spam folders as it could be there, and then add our email address to your safe senders list.

Then look for a special email that will be sent to you with the exclusive Quidco sign-up link. Make sure to read the terms and conditions on Quidco’s website before making your first purchase to ensure it tracks.

JamDoughnut: get £4 for signing up

We’ve managed to snag a cheeky boosted welcome offer for Be Clever With Your Cash readers. You can get £4 extra cashback – double the standard welcome bonus.

It’ll be paid as two sets of 200 points when you make your first purchase.

The first 200 points you get are standard for first-time users of JamDoughnut, while the extra 200 points are for coming through our link. The first 200 points will be instant, while the second ones will take a few days to be added by the JamDoughnut team.

You might be prompted to enter a code. You don’t need to do this as the link will track. But if you want to, then add BCWYC.

Read our review of JamDoughnut

Cheddar: £3 for signing up

You can get £3 when you sign up for cashback app Cheddar using the referral code CLEVER3 and buy your first prepaid card. You’ll also get boosted cashback rates for two weeks.

You have to make the purchase within 14 days of signing up using the invite code to get it.

Read our review of Cheddar

Airtime: £2 when you sign up

Another decent cashback site is the app Airtime. New member bonuses are much smaller. You’ll get £2 for signing up with code FGUHNUQH when you spend £5 within seven days. Sometimes these are boosted.

Get the Airtime welcome promo code

Quidco: £10 back when you spend £5

If you’d rather not get our newsletter then you can get £10 back with a £5 spend via the sign-up link below.

Featured switching deal

Sponsored

Santander £180 switch offer

Customer rating 3.9/5

Switch bonus
£180
Offer ends
Unknown
Perks
8% regular saver

FSCS Protected? Yes
Switch bonus requirements Switch using the Current Account Switch Service and close your old account within 60 days of starting the switch
Deposit requirements Deposit £1,500 in the first 60 days from opening the account
Direct debits transferred over Set up two Direct Debits before or after the switch from a selected list of household bills
Existing customers? Can't have held any Santander current account on 1 January 2025
Restrictions Can't have received a switching bonus from Santander already, offer limited to once per person
Eligible accounts Open a new or hold an existing Everyday, Edge, Edge Up or Edge Explorer current account
Regular saver 8% (variable) regular savings account. Includes 5% (variable) bonus for 12 months

View Deal

Existing customer bonuses

From time to time both Quidco and TopCashback offer an extra bonus. You need to activate these deals and they generally only run for a short period of time – often just one day.

Airtime tends to have promo codes you need to enter on the app to get the extra offer.

The best are generic promos which you can gain with any spending. Sometimes they might be for specific retailers or types of service (eg travel or broadband). I’ll share any decent ones I spot here.

Things to watch out for

Cashback is never guaranteed. If your purchase doesn’t track (i.e. there isn’t a record of you buying the item via the cashback site) you won’t get the money.

Here’s how to increase your chances you will get the money:

Read the (short) terms and conditions for the sign-up deals, and also the individual shop promotions.
Be careful using voucher codes. If they aren’t listed on the cashback page they might stop you getting cashback.
Make sure you don’t already have a browser window open for the retailer.

Updated June 1, 2026 | Deals

NOW TV free trial, offers & deals

BCWYC Team | Updated by James Andrews

Get Sky Atlantic, Sky Cinema and Sky Sports without getting Sky – and pay less with these great NOW TV offers.

Sky’s NOW TV – or NOW as it’s been rebranded – can save you a lot of money compared to paying for TV via your broadband provider, whether that’s Sky, Virgin, BT or TalkTalk.

Despite recent price increases and fewer offers it’s still the cheapest way to get big channels such as Sky Atlantic, Sky One and more. You’ll also get HBO Max included.

What is NOW?

NOW is essentially an on-demand video streaming service, just like Netflix and iPlayer. The big difference is it lets you watch Sky channels. Why bother when you can do this direct? Well NOW is so much cheaper and more flexible. And you’ll see below there are always deals to bring the price down further.

Another great thing is that you can subscribe month by month, or even by the day for sports channels, rather than tie yourself into a year-long contract as you would if you had satellite or cable TV. Here’s Andy’s take on whether it’s worth the money.

It works best if you don’t watch ALL the different channels. That’s because films, TV and sport are all on different packages. Very cheap if you get one or two, but it can be pricey if you get more. And of course you need to consider if you’d be better off picking Netflix or Amazon Prime instead – there’s not enough time to watch all three!

How much is NOW?

Here are the full price costs for all the different NOW passes – but of course you don’t need to pay this. Check out all the deals on this page for ways to save.

Entertainment costs £7.99
Entertainment + HBO Max Pass costs £9.99 a month
Cinema Pass costs £9.99 a month
There are two Sky Sports NOW TV passes
- A Day Pass costs £14.99 for 24 hours
- A Month Pass is £34.99 a month
NOW TV Boost cost £6 a month or £9 a month

New NOW customer offers and deals

The best offers are pretty much always for new customers. If you’ve never used NOW or NOW TV as it was known before, always start with one of these. If there’s a free or very cheap pass featured further down you can always add that at a later date. We’ve ranked them in the order of how good we think they are.

These offers are only for new NOW subscribers. Make sure you cancel before the prepaid package is up or you’ll pay full price for the following months.

At the moment it seems most of these introductory offers are for a minimum of six months, so you might need to weigh up whether you’d be better off paying full price for a single month and using the cancellation trick (more on this further down the page) to hopefully bring prices down without being locked in.

NOW Entertainment: £2.99 for 6 months

This new user offer requires you to lock in for 6 months, after which you’ll pay full price but can cancel at any time.

You’ll get:

Sky originals and exclusive US Shows
The biggest returning hits from HBO – such as Euphoria series 3
One month ad-free

This offer also comes with a 30 day trial of Boost or Ultra Boost. Includes ads.

NOW Entertainment & HBO MAX: £6.99 for 6 months

This new user offer requires you to lock in for 6 months, after which you’ll pay full price but can cancel at any time.

You’ll get:

Sky originals and exclusive US Shows
Every series from HBO Max Basic, such as The Pitt
One month ad-free

This offer also comes with a 30 day trial of Boost or Ultra Boost. Includes ads.

NOW Cinema: £6.99 for 6 months

This new user offer requires you to lock in for 6 months, after which you’ll pay full price but can cancel at any time.

You’ll get:

The latest blockbusters on NOW
One month ad-free

This offer also comes with a 30 day trial of Boost or Ultra Boost. Includes ads.

Featured switching deal

Sponsored

Santander £180 switch offer

Customer rating 3.9/5

Switch bonus
£180
Offer ends
Unknown
Perks
8% regular saver

FSCS Protected? Yes
Switch bonus requirements Switch using the Current Account Switch Service and close your old account within 60 days of starting the switch
Deposit requirements Deposit £1,500 in the first 60 days from opening the account
Direct debits transferred over Set up two Direct Debits before or after the switch from a selected list of household bills
Existing customers? Can't have held any Santander current account on 1 January 2025
Restrictions Can't have received a switching bonus from Santander already, offer limited to once per person
Eligible accounts Open a new or hold an existing Everyday, Edge, Edge Up or Edge Explorer current account
Regular saver 8% (variable) regular savings account. Includes 5% (variable) bonus for 12 months

View Deal

Reduced passes with NOW Broadband

If you change your internet to NOW Broadband, you’ll can sometimes find discounted NOW passes. The cost varies depending on when you sign up; we’ve seen it as little as £4 a month.

However, you are tied into the broadband and the NOW membership for 12 months. And it’ll go up to full price once the year ends.

Get a discounted NOW passes and broadband at NOW

NOW TV free trials (ended)

Sadly there are no longer any free trials for the main passes, though they could return. Usually you can trial “Boost” for 7 days though that’s not currently showing.

If you do get a trial and don’t want to keep paying then remember to cancel before the seven days finish to avoid getting charged full price.

Choose a 7-day NOW free trial

Existing NOW customer offers and deals

Most of the special offers are only for new customers, but there are lots of ways existing customers can save each month. Usually this involved either buying a gift card pass.

With the passes you will get a code which you can enter into your account. Go to the view passes page and you’ll see where to add the code.

There used to be deals offering passes included with a NOW box or stick, but the company no longer sells these.

Here are the best deals:

NOW cancellation trick

If you go to cancel your NOW pass, you’ll be asked the reason you are cancelling. Select the option saying it’s too expensive for you and you might be offered a discount to stay.

If that’s as good or better than the existing customer deals we’ve listed above, then you can accept it and pay less. This will be for a limited time, often three or four months, so don’t forget to repeat this process.

Do keep an eye on your emails too. It’s not unheard of for NOW to offer a discounted price after you’ve cancelled. Here’s more on how this trick works and how to cancel.

NOW email offers

It’s also worth having your email preferences set to allow promotional emails from NOW. They will regularly send promotions with discounts – most recently Andy signed up to four months of Entertainment for £1 a month.

This will only be sent if you don’t have an active subscription, another reason to hit cancel at the start of each month.

Netflix, NOW TV and Freeview box for £5/mth for six months (expired)

If you have BT or EE broadband (or sign up for it), you can add on a EE TV package that includes Netflix and NOW at a reduced price. At the moment, you can get it for £5 a month for the first six months. You’ll need to commit to 24 months, and the price will go up after the six month period and every year. However, it includes:

Netflix Standard with adverts (rrp £5.99 a month)
NOW Entertainment (rrp £9.99 a month)
Discovery+ basic (rrp £3.99 a month)

With this deal, you’re locked in for at least 24 months. For the first six months you’ll pay £5 and this goes up to £20 a month from month seven. It then costs £22 a month from 31 March 2026 and £24 a month from 31 March 2027.

You’ll need to factor in if you can get broadband for less elsewhere, and that you’ll be tied in for two years.

If you want HD Netflix you’ll have to pay extra – and it’s not clear how much more this is.

Similarly if you want HD and no adverts on your NOW pass that’s another £6 a month. And it’s often possible to get cheaper NOW packages direct with NOW – that might not be the case if you pay via your BT bill.

A similar model box will likely cost you £250, so if you’re looking at ditching pay TV elsewhere, this would be a cheaper way to get hold of it, with the streaming services thrown in (though you won’t keep it if you leave BT in two years time).

Get Netflix via EE TV

Latest Sky Sports NOW TV deals

You need a separate pass for Sky Sports via NOW and there are often deals to bring the price down. We’ve listed them on our bespoke deals page for Sky Sports.

Save on Sky Sports at NOW

Here are my top deals for Sky Sports day and month passes on NOW.

Updated June 1, 2026 | Deals

Cheapest ways to watch Sky Sports without a subscription

BCWYC Team | Updated by James Andrews

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, doesn’t tie you in to long contracts, 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.

Sky Sports on NOW

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 for this channel than with Sky if you have it every single month of the year. But be careful here, because the monthly cost for Sky Sports and can often come with a 24 month contract, rather than the rolling one month one you get from NOW.

But there are regular deals which bring the NOW price down, 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?

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 12 Sky Sports channels without a contract, so you can watch per day or per month.

NOW 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 Sky Sports free trials

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

NOW 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 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

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 fully flexible 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.

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

Sky Sports at £19.99 a month – for some (ended)

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 over 35% 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

6 months at £28 a month – for all (ended)

Get an Unlimited Sky Sports membership for £28 per month (normally £31.99) for 12 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 12 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.

Get Sky Sports for £28

NOW 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 £22 a month for 24-months.

Featured switching deal

Sponsored

Santander £180 switch offer

Customer rating 3.9/5

Switch bonus
£180
Offer ends
Unknown
Perks
8% regular saver

FSCS Protected? Yes
Switch bonus requirements Switch using the Current Account Switch Service and close your old account within 60 days of starting the switch
Deposit requirements Deposit £1,500 in the first 60 days from opening the account
Direct debits transferred over Set up two Direct Debits before or after the switch from a selected list of household bills
Existing customers? Can't have held any Santander current account on 1 January 2025
Restrictions Can't have received a switching bonus from Santander already, offer limited to once per person
Eligible accounts Open a new or hold an existing Everyday, Edge, Edge Up or Edge Explorer current account
Regular saver 8% (variable) regular savings account. Includes 5% (variable) bonus for 12 months

View Deal

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

Updated May 27, 2026 | Articles

Energy price cap to rise by 13% from July 2026

Zoe Roddy

The average household will pay £1,862 a year, mostly as a result of the price of gas

The energy price cap is rising by a huge 13%, going up by £221 per year for the average household. This will increase bills by around £18 per month. This only applies to those who are on a standard tariff, so if you have a fixed rate, you’ll be locked in at the price you fixed at.

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

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” (£1,862) 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 July until 30 September 2026.

The new cap for a “household with average use” is £1,862 a year. This is up by about £220, or 13% 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 April to 30 June 2026	Energy price cap per unit and standing charge 1 July to 30 September 2026
Electricity	24.67 pence per kWh 57.21 pence daily standing charge	26.11 pence per kWh 57.19 pence daily standing charge
Gas	5.74 pence per kWh 29.09 pence daily standing charge	7.33 pence per kWh 29.04 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.

As the cap is up by £220 per year, that makes it around £18 more each month. The average monthly bill will be £155.

What is the current energy price cap?

The current price cap (1 April to 30 June) is £1,641 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 July 2026 and will remain in place until 30 September 2026.

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 13% to what you pay at the moment. 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 less per unit of energy from 1 July 2026. 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. You can see the cap for your region on the Ofgem website.

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.

For April’s price cap change, the prices fell for everyone due to an end of funding for the Energy Company Obligation scheme and removing 75% of costs for the Renewables Obligation scheme from energy bills. This time, they’ll only go up for those not on a fixed tariff.

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 12-month fix is around 4% less than the current April price 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 the July one, 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?

This rise is pretty staggering, but it may not be the end of rises. The current predictions suggest that the price cap could see another rise in October, but a lot can change in that time.

Featured switching deal

Sponsored

Santander £180 switch offer

Customer rating 3.9/5

Switch bonus
£180
Offer ends
Unknown
Perks
8% regular saver

FSCS Protected? Yes
Switch bonus requirements Switch using the Current Account Switch Service and close your old account within 60 days of starting the switch
Deposit requirements Deposit £1,500 in the first 60 days from opening the account
Direct debits transferred over Set up two Direct Debits before or after the switch from a selected list of household bills
Existing customers? Can't have held any Santander current account on 1 January 2025
Restrictions Can't have received a switching bonus from Santander already, offer limited to once per person
Eligible accounts Open a new or hold an existing Everyday, Edge, Edge Up or Edge Explorer current account
Regular saver 8% (variable) regular savings account. Includes 5% (variable) bonus for 12 months

View Deal

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 October 2026, and will be announced by 26 August 2026. After this, it’ll change again on 1 January 2027, a change that will be announced in November 2026.

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.

Date	Cost per year with new typical use figures	EPG & grants	Average monthly bill	Change (+/-)
July to September 2026	£1,862	N/A	£155	+13%
April to June 2026	£1,641	N/A	£137	-7%
January to March 2026	£1758	N/A	£146	+0.2%
October to December 2025	£1755	N/A	£146	+2%
July to September 2025	£1,720	N/A	£143	-7%
April to June 2025	£1,849	N/A	£154	+6.4%
January to April 2025	£1,738	N/A	£145	+1.2%
October to December 2024	£1,717	N/A	£143	+9.5%
July to September 2024	£1,568	N/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	£133	0.00%
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.

Date	Max annual bill for a typical household	Average monthly direct debit	Change +/-
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

Updated May 21, 2026 | Articles

Travel money: Find the best currency exchange rates

Amelia Murray

Here’s how to get the most euros, dollars and more for your pounds when you’re getting travel cash for your holiday

Looking for the best ways to get your currency? Well, coins and notes aren’t going to be the best way to pay, and I rarely use them. In fact, when I go overseas the bulk of my spending is with a debit or credit card (a fee-free one naturally).

But from giving a tip through to buying from street vendors, not everywhere takes cards – and ATMS can charge per withdrawal. So having some cash with you makes sense, and here are the five ways you can get the best exchange rates.

1. Ignore “0% commission” signs

One of the most misleading signs on the high street is the one that says “0% commission”. It makes you think that you’re not getting charged anything to change your cash – but you will be.

Rather than add a commission on top of your swap, the bureau de change will simply set their own exchange rate! You can read more about this in our “Why 0% currency commission is a lie” article.

2. Don’t get travel money at the airport

Since bureaus and banks are allowed to set their own exchange rates, it makes sense that the worst rates around will be at the airport. Once you’re there, and particularly once you’re through security, there is nowhere else you could go to get travel money than the bureaus in the departure lounge.

The only workaround if you really have left it too late to go elsewhere is you can order in advance online to collect at the airport, and you’ll get a better rate than just walking up to the booth. You will often need three or four hours notice though.

3. Compare for the best exchange rates

Instead of just popping to your bank or the Post Office as many do, it’s better to compare all the different rates available in your area. The tool I use for this is Money Saving Expert’s Travel Money Max. You can choose between collection, delivery and even airport collection, and you’ll be shown the best rates.

Your choice will increase massively if you live in London, but you’ll still get a decent range of options elsewhere. Do check whether you need to order in advance to get the rate you see – some will charge you a worse rate if you don’t.

4. Don’t use a credit card to swap your cash

Once you know where you’ll get your cash, you want to avoid any extra charges on your swap. This means paying with cash or a debit card. That’s because using a credit card is what’s known as a “cash advance“.

With this you’re effectively taking money off your card as cash and then using the cash to make the transaction – even if you don’t actually get your hands on any physical notes and coins to hand over.

Featured switching deal

Sponsored

Santander £180 switch offer

Customer rating 3.9/5

Switch bonus
£180
Offer ends
Unknown
Perks
8% regular saver

FSCS Protected? Yes
Switch bonus requirements Switch using the Current Account Switch Service and close your old account within 60 days of starting the switch
Deposit requirements Deposit £1,500 in the first 60 days from opening the account
Direct debits transferred over Set up two Direct Debits before or after the switch from a selected list of household bills
Existing customers? Can't have held any Santander current account on 1 January 2025
Restrictions Can't have received a switching bonus from Santander already, offer limited to once per person
Eligible accounts Open a new or hold an existing Everyday, Edge, Edge Up or Edge Explorer current account
Regular saver 8% (variable) regular savings account. Includes 5% (variable) bonus for 12 months

View Deal

5. Get a specialist card for extra cash machine withdrawals overseas

Don’t take too much cash with you. Apart from the risks of losing it, if you don’t spend all of it you’ll get a poor rate when you try to swap it back to sterling. So instead I’d recommend you only take out enough to cover essentials for the first few days – depending on the infrastructure at your destination of course.

Then, if you need more cash, you can use an ATM. Though some of these will have local fees set by the bank you use, you won’t have any charges on the exchange rate at all if you use a specialist card such as Chase or Starling.

Updated May 21, 2026 | Articles

Cut the cost of using your mobile phone abroad

Andy Webb

Don’t blow your holiday budget on your mobile bill

Since Brexit, most major mobile networks have reintroduced roaming charges. And with the constant desire to stay connected, and use your phone to get around, you can end up with a huge bill.

Here’s what you need to know about roaming charges for the major networks, and a few tricks to help you keep costs down.

Can you get free roaming?

Until the end of 2020, you were able to use your inclusive data, calls and texts when travelling in Europe. And some mobile companies, such as Three, offered the same deal in countries further afield, including the USA and Australia. O2 is the only major network to carry on offering this — here are the rules for each of the networks.

O2 & Virgin Mobile – free roaming continues

The only major network to retain free roaming is O2, with extra benefits if you also get Virgin Broadband. You can call and text UK numbers from abroad and use your data up to the limits in your monthly allowance or 25GB, whichever is lower.

This only applies in European countries, and you’ll be capped at 25GB of data a month if your normal allowance is above this.

For travel outside of Europe, you can buy an O2 Travel Bolt On for £7 a day which covers 27 worldwide destinations (full list here). You’ll get unlimited data each day, plus 120 minutes of talk time and texts to UK numbers. Some more expensive packages include this, usually those with 30GB of data or more.

If you’re on Pay As You Go, you can get the O2 Travel Bolt On for £1.99 a day in selected destinations.

Or, if you’re with Virgin Media for your broadband then you can link your accounts to get this Bolt On added to your phone tariff for free.

Vodafone

General roaming charges now apply to anyone who took out a Vodafone contract after 11 August 2021. There’s no change for contracts taken out before this.

However, pay monthly plans and Pay As You Go include roaming in the Republic of Ireland, Isle of Man, Iceland and Norway.

Some more expensive contracts will include roaming in the EU and beyond, but if you’re on a basic plan you’ll pay £2.57 a day if you’re travelling in Europe. You can reduce this with an eight-day pass for £16 or a 15-day pass for £21.

EE

Your roaming charges will depend on your plan and where you’re travelling.

For example, if you pay monthly for your EE phone contract, you’ll be charged £2.72 a day or £16.50 for seven days if you’re travelling in Europe.

Then there are zones for the rest of the world. If you’re visiting the USA, China, India and a few others in Zone 1, it’ll cost £6 a day or £30 for seven days. The most you’ll pay is £16 a day if you’re going to Zone 4 countries including Nepal and the Maldives.

If you’re on PAYG, you’ll need to pay £2.50 for a day or £10 for seven days to use your allowances in Europe.

If you’re on EE’s Full Works plan, you’ll get its EU and Roam Further Pass included, although this is one of the more expensive contacts.

Three

The Go Roam benefit offered free roaming outside the EU, but all included roaming ended for anyone who took out a new contract or renewed a contract after 1 October 2021.

Now Three offers roaming in Europe for £2 for a day, £5 three days, or £12 for a week.

It’ll cost you £5 a day for the rest of the world to use your existing allowances, with three days costing £12.50 and a week set at £30.

There’s also a £7 a day Data Passport which offers unlimited data abroad.

However, it’s free in the EU if you use (or buy) a Three Pay-as-you-go SIM.

Other networks

Here’s what some of the other networks are doing:

BT Mobile – free European roaming remains
Giffgaff – free European roaming remains
ID Mobile – free European roaming remains
Lebara – free European roaming remains
Sky Mobile – free roaming ended in May 2022
Smarty – free European roaming remains
Tesco Mobile – free European roaming remains
Voxi – free roaming ended in May 2022

New rules to cut roaming fees

Mobile network providers must tell you if you’re going to be charged for roaming when you’re abroad under new proposals from Ofcom (the UK’s communications regulator). The provider has to tell you the costs, fair use limits and any relevant time limits. They should also inform you of how to set a limit on your spending.

These rules were introduced on 1 October 2024.

How to reduce your phone charges abroad

Check your destination

Even if you have roaming included or there’s the option to set a daily price cap – check that the country you’re going to is part of that deal. If it’s excluded then you’ll need to look at some of these other tips.

Switch to a different mobile network

As well as O2 and Virgin Media, many smaller networks are keeping EU roaming. These could well be cheaper than the major networks back home, too.

If you don’t fancy doing this permanently, you could look at Three’s PAYG SIM or sign up for just one month of one of the smaller networks.

Get an eSIM

An eSIM is a handy way to get service while you’re abroad. It’s essentially a digital SIM card that you can load onto your phone to use local network providers. You can get ones that are just data, or you can get one with a local phone number to also make calls and send texts.

We have a full guide on eSIMs here where we explain how they work, the benefits and the savings you can make.

Cap your charges

If you don’t want to switch, you should find out what your network will charge where you are going.

It’s worth seeing if your network has a cap on overseas charges, particularly for data. This will stop your bill getting out of control – but don’t assume you’ll get this. You often have to ask for this to be implemented.

Featured switching deal

Sponsored

Santander £180 switch offer

Customer rating 3.9/5

Switch bonus
£180
Offer ends
Unknown
Perks
8% regular saver

FSCS Protected? Yes
Switch bonus requirements Switch using the Current Account Switch Service and close your old account within 60 days of starting the switch
Deposit requirements Deposit £1,500 in the first 60 days from opening the account
Direct debits transferred over Set up two Direct Debits before or after the switch from a selected list of household bills
Existing customers? Can't have held any Santander current account on 1 January 2025
Restrictions Can't have received a switching bonus from Santander already, offer limited to once per person
Eligible accounts Open a new or hold an existing Everyday, Edge, Edge Up or Edge Explorer current account
Regular saver 8% (variable) regular savings account. Includes 5% (variable) bonus for 12 months

View Deal

Get a bolt-on

Another option is to buy add-on packages that give you a pre-agreed amount of minutes, texts or data to use when abroad.

Get Volt via O2 and Virgin Media

Worldwide roaming is included if you have both a mobile with O2 and broadband from Virgin Media. Though only go down this route if the prices for both are decent.

Turn off your data and use Wi-Fi instead

Another option is to simply not use data at all. You need to do this before you get on the plane, train or boat. Go to your settings and turn off data roaming or mobile data – and keep it off until you’re back in the UK.

This also means the apps on your phone won’t automatically access data behind the scenes. It also protects against accidentally opening your email — yep, you’d get charged, even if it’s just a few seconds.

If you’re in a destination where roaming is included, check your limits. There may be a reduction in how much of your regular allowance you can use.

With data turned off, the only way to connect to the web will be using Wi-Fi. You might get lucky and get it for free at your hotel. If not, look for coffee shops and public spaces that don’t charge. You can research in advance too, using the Wi-Fi Finder app.

However, be careful using unsecured Wi-Fi with banking apps or online shopping. Don’t enter login or password details.

Write shorter texts

If your text is longer than 160 characters, it’ll count as two texts (or more), so try to watch your words. It’s also worth not sending picture messages via text (at home and abroad) as they’ll be charged extra. Use messaging apps instead (when you’re on Wi-Fi).

Our podcast

Listen to Cash Chats, our award-winning podcast, presented by Steve Alderton and Editor James Andrews.

Episodes every Monday.

Listen now

Be careful when making local calls

Unless you’ve got a specific add-on which allows it, any calls you make to numbers at your destination or texts messages to local mobiles aren’t included in roaming. You might be better off getting a local SIM or calling card if you’re going to make a lot of these calls.

Don’t answer calls and turn off voicemail

Outside inclusive roaming counties you’ll often be charged to answer a call, so don’t answer unless you need to. You won’t be charged to get a text message though, so tell mates back home that’s the best way to communicate with you while you’re away.

Some networks – with EE the worst – will also charge you for receiving a voicemail when abroad, even if you don’t access it. I always used to call my provider and turn voicemail off before I left to avoid any unnecessary charges.

Use apps to make calls and send messages

When you’re connected to Wi-Fi, you’ll also be able to use apps like WhatsApp to make free calls and send messages, including photos.

This cuts out the costs of making and receiving calls overseas. However, if the Wi-Fi signal is weak, it can be a very frustrating phone call!

Updated May 19, 2026 | Deals

Quidco bonuses: up to £18 for new members

BCWYC Team

Get free cash when you shop at thousands of shops or other bonuses with these Quidco sign-up bonus offers.

We’re big fans of cashback and – even better – you can often get a bonus when you sign up for the first time.

Quidco is one of the big cashback sites, and we’ll list the best deals here, as well as any other specific cashback deals we think you can’t afford to miss.

What is Quidco?

Quidco is a cashback website that lets you earn money back when you shop through its platform. It works with thousands of retailers across different categories, including fashion, tech, travel and groceries. When you make a purchase through Quidco, a percentage of what you spend is tracked and later paid out as cashback, which you can withdraw to your bank, PayPal, or as a gift card.

First time Quidco user offers

There are regular retailer-specific offers that come and go which could save you £10 or £15 if you buy at those shops. But the two generic offers below are far better as they mean you can spend your money wherever you want on whatever you want.

£18 bonus cashback when you spend £10

The best deal is for subscribers to our weekly newsletter who get access to an exclusive £18 first-time bonus when they spend £10. You’ll also get the cashback offered by the retailer on top.

Once you sign up, you’ll need to click on the sign up confirmation email that will be sent immediately. If you don’t see it please check your spam folders as it could be there, and then add our email address to your safe senders list.

This offer is due to end 30 June 2026, but will hopefully be extended

Get £10 cashback when you spend £5, plus extra cashback (ended)

This is an ongoing offer that can get you the cashback on any purchase, as long as you spend £5 or more. So if you spend £5 at any of the 5,000+ retailers listed on Quidco – which is pretty much all of them – you’ll get £10 back plus whatever the cashback rate is. There are so many shops you’ll definitely find a way to get your cashback.

Ends 31 December 2025.

Existing Quidco customer offers

It’s worth looking for bonus cashback deals which can pop up from time to time. You need to click to activate these offers. We’ll add them below when we see them.

Quidco Flashback offers

Often Quidco has boosted cashback known as Flashback that runs for 24 hours. Sometimes we can share them in advance, although they could change or be cancelled. Always check the Quidco homepage for the full terms and conditions. You might also have to activate some offers.

Already with Quidco?

TopCashback also offers new member bonuses. Check out the latest here.

Free cashback offers

Some deals will give you money without actually spending any money:

£3 bonus when you install Quidco reminder (ended)

If you use Chrome as your internet browser you’ll be able to earn a £3 bonus by installing the Quidco Reminder extension, then using it to activate cashback while shopping and spend at least £3. There are a handful of retailers excluded which are listed in the terms and conditions when you click through. The offer comes and goes.

Featured switching deal

Sponsored

Santander £180 switch offer

Customer rating 3.9/5

Switch bonus
£180
Offer ends
Unknown
Perks
8% regular saver

FSCS Protected? Yes
Switch bonus requirements Switch using the Current Account Switch Service and close your old account within 60 days of starting the switch
Deposit requirements Deposit £1,500 in the first 60 days from opening the account
Direct debits transferred over Set up two Direct Debits before or after the switch from a selected list of household bills
Existing customers? Can't have held any Santander current account on 1 January 2025
Restrictions Can't have received a switching bonus from Santander already, offer limited to once per person
Eligible accounts Open a new or hold an existing Everyday, Edge, Edge Up or Edge Explorer current account
Regular saver 8% (variable) regular savings account. Includes 5% (variable) bonus for 12 months

View Deal

Updated May 18, 2026 | Articles

LTV & the remortgaging tricks that’ll save you thousands

Andy Webb

Don’t miss out on even better deals when looking for a new mortgage offer.

If you’re on a fixed mortgage deal, you might just see remortgaging as something you need to do to avoid moving on to a more expensive standard variable rate. Of course, doing that will save you money but it’s possible to use remortgaging to reduce how much you pay over the term even more.

I’m not going to go through everything you need to do when you remortgage here – things like check your credit report for errors, get paperwork together and watch your spending and credit applications in the run-up to your application.

This is all very important stuff and could well have changed since you last got a mortgage. So do read up on all of that.

Instead, I’m going to focus here on a few simple things you can do that could make a big difference to the monthly and total cost of your mortgage. And the main one involves something called “Loan to Value”.

Watch this video or keep reading (or both)

What is Loan to Value?

Loan to Value, or LTV, is essentially how much you have borrowed compared to the value of your home. So if you originally bought a £300,000 house with a £30,000 deposit you would have had an LTV of 90%. That’s a mortgage loan of £270,000.

So why does this matter to remortgaging? Well, LTV is measured in bands. They generally start at 95% (meaning you’ve put down a 5% deposit) and drop in 5% increments down to 60%, though sometimes the gaps between tiers are larger (eg 75% and then 60%).

Mortgage interest rates tend to then drop for each band you move down. And obviously the lower the interest rate you get, the less you’ll pay.

For example, at the time of writing, the lowest available five-year fix is 4.48%. This is based on taking out a 25-year mortgage term with a 60% LTV. At 80% LTV, the lowest five-year fix available is 4.68%, at 90% that rises again to 4.84%.

And over time there’s a good chance your LTV will have changed, thanks to prices rising as well as you paying off some of your loan, meaning you might get a better deal when it comes around to remortgaging.

There are two key changes that could have affected your LTV since you agreed to your last mortgage deal.

Try our mortgage calculator

Our mortgage calculator helps simplify things by giving you an idea of how much you could borrow and your likely monthly repayments.

Find out what you could afford

How your LTV could have changed

First, unless you’re on an interest-only mortgage, you’ve been paying into your mortgage every single month, building up equity.

Say you’ve knocked £15,000 off the mortgage in equity payments (don’t forget some of your monthly repayments will have gone towards interest charges), then you have added an extra 5% to what you own. This means your LTV would now be 85% and you can apply for the next tier of mortgages.

And second, your property value could have increased. Let’s say it’s now worth 5% more at £315,000. That’s an extra £15k. Alongside your initial deposit and the £15k in repayments, it would give you £60,000 of equity – roughly 19% of the total value. That means the LTV is now 81%.

However, in the example above, the repayments and extra value might give an LTV of 81% but it would still only mean getting access to deals in the 85% LTV bracket, rather than 80%.

When you’re really close to a new tier, finding some extra cash from savings or cutting back ahead of remortgaging would be well worth it. Here an extra £3,000 might seem a huge amount but the drop down to the 80% band could be a big saver over time.

Using our example mortgage size, a 0.45% difference between 85% and 80% LTV tiers over five years would be just £2,000, but over 25 years that variation in rate would be worth £15,000.

It’s worth having a go on our mortgage calculator to find out what effect things like different rates have on payments, so it’s worth taking a look at playing around.

How to get a new valuation for LTV

You can get a sense of price changes using a site like Zoopla. You put your postcode in and you’ll get an estimate as to the current value of your property. It’ll be shown in a range which can be quite broad. When I looked, for example, it suggested my house had gone up by £20k to £79k in value since we paid for it two years ago.

You can also get an idea from Zoopla and RightMove as to what the list prices were for other similar properties that have sold recently. Have a nose at the listings online so you can see if it’s a similar layout and standard inside. Remember these are just asking prices, so the actual deal could be different.

For a more accurate idea you could invite an estate agent over to give you their input – there’s no commitment for you to list the house if you do this. You can then put a figure on your application.

The mortgage lender will then want to do their own valuation (and charge you for it!). This could just be a drive-by looking at the outside of the property, or they might want to come into the house. You probably won’t know which one it is, so make sure everything looks good inside just in case.

This won’t happen though until you’re already quite a decent way through your application process so if you don’t get what you want to bear in mind you’ll start all over again with another lender.

Shop around for the lowest rate

Once you’ve checked the LTV you could just remortgage with your existing lender. That might be the quickest option, and it could mean you don’t need to go through as many hoops and cut out some fees. But it could also mean you’re missing out on some much lower deals.

You can find the best remortgage rates on our comparison tables, which are updated in real time and are really handy to get an idea of what’s out there.

You can also talk to a mortgage advisor, who will be able to give you a much better idea of what you could be offered based on your individual circumstances, and even ways to boost your affordability.

A few extras to bear in mind when comparing different rates:

Find out if you are able to overpay

It’s really worth looking to see what the rules are in terms of overpayment. Some won’t let you do it at all, while others might have annual limits. Best is complete freedom to pay what you want each month and the ability to clear it completely before the term ends.

Even if you don’t think you’ll be able to overpay by much, if at all, right now, you never know how things could change. It’s really useful to have that flexibility.

And overpaying can save you a fortune in interest charges as well as help you clear the debt earlier. There’s more on whether you should pay your mortgage off early here.

Compare mortgage rates and deals

Looking for a mortgage? Find the top rates from over 200,000 deals and 100+ lenders with our live tables.

Check out the best mortgage rates

Watch out for fees

You’ll get charged all sorts of different fees with different mortgages, and they can make good looking deals actually worse than ones with higher interest.

The main ones are the arrangement and booking fees. These facilitate the deal and could be non-refundable. You need to factor in these to the total cost of the mortgage deal.

Do this over the length of the deal (eg three years) to work out what you’ll actually be paying over time, and compare it to one with higher rates and lower fees.

Consider if you want to fix for longer

If interest rates are going to shoot up in the coming years, you might want to look beyond the usual two-year fixes. There are often five and 10-year options available, though you may pay a higher rate for these.

Check how much you’ve left to pay

One reason not to remortgage is when you’ve almost cleared your debt. That’s because the fees that are added to new deals could well wipe out the savings you’ll make by sticking put – even if it’s at a higher interest rate! So work out how much you’ll be paying by sticking put just in case it works out cheaper.

Featured switching deal

Sponsored

Santander £180 switch offer

Customer rating 3.9/5

Switch bonus
£180
Offer ends
Unknown
Perks
8% regular saver

FSCS Protected? Yes
Switch bonus requirements Switch using the Current Account Switch Service and close your old account within 60 days of starting the switch
Deposit requirements Deposit £1,500 in the first 60 days from opening the account
Direct debits transferred over Set up two Direct Debits before or after the switch from a selected list of household bills
Existing customers? Can't have held any Santander current account on 1 January 2025
Restrictions Can't have received a switching bonus from Santander already, offer limited to once per person
Eligible accounts Open a new or hold an existing Everyday, Edge, Edge Up or Edge Explorer current account
Regular saver 8% (variable) regular savings account. Includes 5% (variable) bonus for 12 months

View Deal

When to remortgage

It’s worth looking for new deals around six months before your deal ends as it can take time to get the process approved.

Saying that, you can remortgage at any time, though if you do it before your deal ends you may get hit with exit fees – usually known as early repayment fees.

So generally it’s best not to do it early but you might want to keep an eye on any potential base rate changes by the Bank of England.

If it looks like there’s going to be a significant rise you might want to switch your deal early to get hold of lower price deals – but of course you need to factor in any early repayment charge as well as any changes to LTV.

Important

*Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage. Be Clever With Your Cash may receive a payment from Tembo Money if you complete a mortgage through the link provided. This will not affect the amount you pay for the service.

This broker fee discount of up to £499 is applicable for standard mortgages and remortgages only, more complex cases including guarantor, buy-to-let, adverse credit, and equity transfer may be liable for a fee. The fee you are required to pay will be clearly outlined by your adviser prior to an application being submitted on your behalf. The offer does not cover any other potential fees that may arise during the mortgage process.

Tembo Money Limited (12631312) is a company registered in England and Wales with its registered office at 18 Crucifix Lane, London, SE1 3JW. Tembo is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under the registration number 952652. Tembo Money was awarded Best Mortgage Broker at the British bank awards in 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. Rates are not guaranteed and may change by the time you come to apply. Eligibility criteria may vary by lender.

Our calculator is only an estimate of how much you are able to borrow and does not constitute mortgage advice

Updated May 11, 2026 | Articles

How to get the best value sun cream

Andy Webb

Save money without sacrificing the protection you give your skin.

Is a branded suncreen any better than a supermarket’s own version? And what should you be thinking about other than the SPF number?

I’ve taken a look at how to make sure you’re not overspending but still getting the right protection.

What makes a decent sun cream?

SPF and UVB rays

When you’re going to buy suncream there’s probably only one number you really pay attention to. The big one on the front – the SPF number. Sun Protection Factor.

This ranges from around four or five all the way through to fifty plus. The number which medical groups recommend is at least thirty.

What the SPF number specifically shows is the protection you get against Ultraviolet B rays – or UVB. These are the rays that generally will burn your skin.

Basically the higher the number is, the greater the protection, the longer the protection you’re going to get from these rays.

“Star ratings” and UVA rays

There’s actually more than one type of UV ray coming from the sun. What you should also be looking for when you’re buying your suncream is protection against UVA – Ultraviolet A – rays.

This is the stuff that’s meant to premature age you, the stuff that causes you to get those lines caused by the sun. It will hopefully say both UVA and UVB on the packet.

But how do you know how good that protection is? Because SPF isn’t anything to do with the UVA. Instead, you look for some stars. Bigger packs hopefully have it on the front, though it might be on the back of smaller ones.

You should be looking for at least four stars. That’s going to give you the protection that you need.

Is more expensive suncream better?

Now if you’ve got at least factor 30 on the UVB and then you’ve got at least four stars on the UVA then all the sun creams are pretty much the same. At least they’re doing the same thing anyway in terms of protecting you from the sun’s rays.

So whether you’re going into Aldi or Boots and you’re spending a couple of quid or whether you’re spending more than ten quid by getting some posh brands, they’re not really doing anything different.

I had a look at Which? magazine. Last year they reviewed and tested about 15 to 20 different sun creams.

The best buys were from Boots, Nivea, Sainsbury’s and Superdrug, all relatively affordable. Worryingly, some of the brands didn’t offer the protection promised – and were marked “don’t buy”. These were Asda, Morrisons and one type of Ultrasun.

Broadly, the only real difference they found between the ones that did pass the tests is that some of the cheaper ones can feel a bit greasy when you apply them to your skin. Or they smell not fantastic when you apply them, so you might want to try some different ones and pay a bit more money.

So just because it’s a brand it’s not necessarily any better than an own brand from one of the chemists or supermarkets.

Featured switching deal

Sponsored

Santander £180 switch offer

Customer rating 3.9/5

Switch bonus
£180
Offer ends
Unknown
Perks
8% regular saver

FSCS Protected? Yes
Switch bonus requirements Switch using the Current Account Switch Service and close your old account within 60 days of starting the switch
Deposit requirements Deposit £1,500 in the first 60 days from opening the account
Direct debits transferred over Set up two Direct Debits before or after the switch from a selected list of household bills
Existing customers? Can't have held any Santander current account on 1 January 2025
Restrictions Can't have received a switching bonus from Santander already, offer limited to once per person
Eligible accounts Open a new or hold an existing Everyday, Edge, Edge Up or Edge Explorer current account
Regular saver 8% (variable) regular savings account. Includes 5% (variable) bonus for 12 months

View Deal

How much should you buy?

One extra thing to think about when you’re buying your sun cream is the size of the bottle. In terms of getting value for money the bigger bottles will often work out cheaper per unit, usually per ml, So you’d think the bigger the bottle the better the deal.

But that’s not necessarily the case. On the back of most of your sun creams, you’ll see a little drawing of a pot. You see it on lots of cosmetics as well. This little round pot with an open lid and in there it will give a little number. If it says “12m” it stands for twelve months. Most sun creams are meant to last between 12 and 18 months.

Time actually reduces how strong the cream is. The bottle might say thirty on the front but if it’s two or three years old it won’t be delivering that kind of protection.

And it’s worth bearing in mind that if you leave your suncream out in the sun then that’s going to make it last a shorter amount of time as well.

So will you actually use the cream up in that time? Or will you, like I have in the past, have half-used bottles sitting at the back of the cupboard until the next year?

Big families, or people spending a lot of time in the sun, are probably better off buying big bottles at the start of each summer, and then buying smaller ones as the summer ends. And people who aren’t out in the sun much might be better off just buying smaller packs. Of course, it’s important to apply the right amount – so don’t scrimp.

How cashback sites afford to give you money

How to get even more money from the cashback sites

New customer offers

TopCashback: £18 bonus when you spend £10

Quidco: £18 bonus when you spend £10

JamDoughnut: get £4 for signing up

Cheddar: £3 for signing up

Airtime: £2 when you sign up

Quidco: £10 back when you spend £5

Existing customer bonuses

Things to watch out for

What is NOW?

How much is NOW?

New NOW customer offers and deals

NOW Entertainment: £2.99 for 6 months

NOW Entertainment & HBO MAX: £6.99 for 6 months

NOW Cinema: £6.99 for 6 months

Reduced passes with NOW Broadband

NOW TV free trials (ended)

Existing NOW customer offers and deals

NOW cancellation trick

NOW email offers

Netflix, NOW TV and Freeview box for £5/mth for six months (expired)

Latest Sky Sports NOW TV deals

Sky Sports on NOW

What is NOW?

NOW Sky Sports free trials

NOW Sky Sports day pass offers

Month-long Sky Sports pass on NOW

Personalised discounts

Sky Sports at £19.99 a month – for some (ended)

6 months at £28 a month – for all (ended)

NOW Sky Sports Week pass offers

Sky Sports on Virgin Media

Sky Sports on Sky

Other sports broadcasters

Amazon Prime Video

TNT Sport

How the energy cap works

What is the new energy price cap?

What is the new average monthly energy bill?

What is the current energy price cap?

When will the new prices start?

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

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

If you’re on a variable tariff

If you’re on a prepayment meter

If you’re already on a fixed tariff

Should you fix your energy?

Will bills go up again?

When is the next price cap change?

How you can reduce your bill

How has the price cap changed?

Historical energy price caps

Here’s how to get the most euros, dollars and more for your pounds when you’re getting travel cash for your holiday

1. Ignore “0% commission” signs

2. Don’t get travel money at the airport

3. Compare for the best exchange rates

4. Don’t use a credit card to swap your cash

5. Get a specialist card for extra cash machine withdrawals overseas

Read next

Don’t blow your holiday budget on your mobile bill

Can you get free roaming?

O2 & Virgin Mobile – free roaming continues

Vodafone

EE

Three

Other networks

New rules to cut roaming fees

How to reduce your phone charges abroad

Check your destination

Switch to a different mobile network

Get an eSIM

Cap your charges

Get a bolt-on

Get Volt via O2 and Virgin Media

Turn off your data and use Wi-Fi instead

Write shorter texts

Be careful when making local calls

Don’t answer calls and turn off voicemail