Bank of England (BoE) MPC Meeting Schedule

The full calendar of scheduled meetings for the Bank of England’s (BoE) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is outlined below.  Bear in mind that it is theoretically possible, in extraordinary times, for the BoE to hold extra, emergency meetings on top of this schedule.

The BoE switched to an 8 meeting per year schedule from the prior 12 meetings per year in September 2016, meaning they now meet approximately every 6 weeks to discuss and set monetary policy.  Each “meeting” is actually spread over three sessions on three different days with the announcement normally on a separate day.

Session 1: pre-MPC meeting – usually held on the Thursday the week before the rate decision.  The committee discuss their views on recent economic data.

Session 2: first policy meeting – usually held on the Monday on the week of the rate decision.  The committee debate what the appropriate policy stance.

Session 3: second policy meeting – usually held on the Wednesday on the week of the rate decision. The committee debates the appropriate policy stance further and then the Governor proposes a policy decision for a vote.

Policy Announcement: normally at 12pm UK time on a Thursday.  BoE publishes its policy decision, incl rates, along with the meeting minutes.

At four of these meetings (typically in February, May, August and November), the BoE also prepare and publish the Quarterly Inflation Report (the “QIR”) which includes the BoE’s latest economic forecasts.  For these four meetings, the BoE Governor then holds a press conference after the announcement of the policy decision, normally starting at 12:30 UK time.

BoE speakers observe a Purdah, or closed period, from the pre-MPC meeting to midnight on the day of the policy announcement.  Assuming the meeting is following the usual structure (announcement on a Thursday), this means the closed period starts on the Thursday before the announcement, and ends at midnight on the Thursday that the announcement has been made.  For more details on blackouts, see our central bank blackout summary.

It’s worth remembering that the BoE also has other committees and policy bodies to manage other, non-monetary policy, parts of the economy.  These include the Financial Policy Committee (the FPC) which meets quarterly to monitor and regulate systemic risks to the financial system and support the economic policy of the Government.

2017