NS&I Green Savings Bonds explained

Green Savings Bonds are three-year fixed-term savings accounts from NS&I, the government-backed savings bank. The maximum is £100,000 per person in each Issue. Interest is calculated daily and added to the Bond on each anniversary of your investment, and it is taxable, counting towards your Personal Savings Allowance in the tax year the Bond matures¹.

The money you invest goes to HM Treasury, which intends to use an equivalent amount to help finance green spending projects chosen by the Government. Bonds bought after 8 April 2026 follow a new Green Financing Framework announced in November 2025, which now includes nuclear energy projects among the eligible spending. Bonds bought or renewed before that date continue to follow the previous framework created in 2021¹.

Because NS&I is backed by the UK government, your money is fully protected, but not through the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. NS&I is not covered by the FSCS; instead, 100% of all NS&I savings are backed by the Treasury³.

How Green Savings Bonds work: a fixed rate for three years

A Green Savings Bond is a lump-sum investment that earns a fixed rate of interest over three years¹. NS&I can change the fixed rate on offer at any time, and each time it does so it releases a new Issue. It can also withdraw any Issue from sale without notice². That means the rate you get is the rate attached to the Issue you buy into, and it does not change for the life of that Bond.

Interest is calculated daily and added to your Bond on each anniversary of your investment². It is added without deducting tax¹. NS&I sends you a statement in April each year showing the interest you have earned and your balance, and a closing statement on maturity¹.

The Bond is designed to be held for the whole term. You cannot cash it in before the end of the three years¹. That is the central trade-off: you get a fixed rate and government backing, but you give up access to your money for three years. If you might need the money sooner, a fixed-term Bond is not the right shape of product, and an easy access or notice account would let you reach the money without waiting⁶.

The minimum you can start with is £100, and you must invest at least that amount, paid by a debit card in your own name issued by a UK bank². You can also fund the Bond by switching money from another NS&I account¹.

Who can buy them and how much you can hold

Green Savings Bonds are for customers aged 16 or over². You can invest in your own name or jointly with one other person¹. The maximum is £100,000 per person in each Issue¹.

If you hold a Bond jointly, half of the investment counts towards each individual investor's personal limit¹. So a joint holding of £100,000 counts as £50,000 towards each person's allowance for that Issue. That matters if you are trying to work out how much room you have left, because a joint Bond does not give you a combined £200,000 of headroom; it splits the same £100,000 across two people.

There are two things you cannot do with this product. You cannot add more money to a Bond once you have bought it: once you have bought a fixed-term Bond, you cannot add any more money to it². And you cannot buy one for a trust. Green Savings Bonds may not be purchased for a trust by a trustee, including as a corporate trustee, either by yourself or on behalf of someone else¹.

That trust restriction is worth noting because it is not universal across NS&I products. Income Bonds, for example, can be held in trust for someone else, and there is a holding limit of £1 million for each trust, with trustee holdings not counting towards the trustee's personal limit⁷. If you need to save through a trust, Green Savings Bonds are not the route.

If you inherit a Green Savings Bond, you can transfer it into your name even if it takes you over the investment limit for that Issue, but no more Bonds of the same Issue can be bought¹.

How interest is earned, added and taxed

Interest on a Green Savings Bond is calculated daily and added to the Bond on each anniversary of your investment². It is added once a year, without deducting tax¹. NS&I sends a statement in April each year showing the interest earned and your balance, plus a closing statement when the Bond matures¹.

The interest is taxable. It counts towards your Personal Savings Allowance in the tax year that your Bond matures¹. That timing point catches people out: although interest is added to the Bond each year, it is the maturity year that matters for your Personal Savings Allowance, not the years in between. If you hold a large Bond, the interest landing in a single tax year could push you over your allowance or into a higher tax band for that year.

The Personal Savings Allowance is the amount of savings interest you can earn before paying tax on it. How much you get depends on your income tax band, and the rules differ for Scottish taxpayers, who pay different rates of income tax on non-savings income. If you are unsure how the allowance applies to you, the pages on the personal savings allowance and tax on savings interest set out how it works, and tax on savings interest for Scottish taxpayers covers the Scottish position.

Because the interest is taxable, a Green Savings Bond is not a tax-free wrapper in the way a cash ISA is. NS&I does offer a cash ISA with a variable interest rate called a Direct ISA, and there is a Junior ISA for children, but Green Savings Bonds are not ISAs⁹. If your main concern is sheltering interest from tax, an ISA is the structure designed for that; if your main concern is a fixed rate with government backing, a Green Savings Bond is the structure designed for that.

How to buy a Green Savings Bond

Green Savings Bonds are available to buy online³. You can apply online using a UK debit card, or by switching money from another NS&I account¹. If you have an NS&I Direct Saver, you can apply online for Green Savings Bonds and pay for them from your Direct Saver².

The steps are:

1. Apply online at nsandi.com. You will need a UK debit card in your own name, or an existing NS&I account to switch money from¹.
2. Invest at least £100. The maximum is £100,000 per person in each Issue¹.
3. Wait for the account to open. NS&I aims to open your account in 7 to 10 working days².
4. If you pay by bank transfer or standing order, the money shows in your account in 2 to 3 working days².

You can only invest and manage the Bond online at nsandi.com¹. There is no branch or postal route for this product, which is different from some other NS&I accounts. Premium Bonds, Children's Bonds and an Investment Account can be managed by post, and you do not have to use the online service for those¹¹. If you prefer to deal with your savings on paper, that is a real constraint on Green Savings Bonds.

If you already hold other NS&I products, the online and phone service covers Premium Bonds, Green Savings Bonds (online only), Income Bonds, Direct Saver, Junior ISA (online only) and Direct ISA¹². So a single login can reach several accounts, but Green Savings Bonds themselves are online only.

Your money is locked in until the end of the term

The Bond is designed to be held for the whole term. You cannot cash it in before the end of the three years¹. There is no early withdrawal option, no penalty-free window and no partial access. If your circumstances change and you need the money, you cannot get at it until the term ends.

The one exception is the cooling-off period. If you change your mind, you can cancel within 30 days of receiving confirmation of your Bond². NS&I refunds your money, plus any interest earned, within 14 days of cancellation². That is the only point at which you can reverse the decision without waiting for maturity.

This is the same structure as NS&I's other fixed-term Bonds. Guaranteed Growth Bonds and Guaranteed Income Bonds also cannot be cashed in before the end of their term, and both also carry a 30-day cooling-off period with a refund plus interest within 14 days¹³. The difference is the term length: Guaranteed Growth and Guaranteed Income Bonds run for one year to five years, so they offer more choice about how long you lock your money away¹⁵.

If access matters more than a fixed rate, the alternatives are easy access accounts, which let you take money out without notice, and notice accounts, which require you to give notice but usually pay more than easy access. NS&I's own Income Bonds have no set investment term and can be cashed in at any time with no notice and no penalty⁷. The pages on easy access savings accounts and notice savings accounts explain how those compare, and fixed-rate bonds and fixed-term savings covers the wider fixed-term market.

Where the money goes: the Green Financing Framework

Your money goes to HM Treasury, which intends to use it to help finance green spending projects chosen by the Government¹. Money invested in Green Savings Bonds goes to HM Treasury and is held in a general account³. HM Treasury plans to allocate an amount equivalent to the funds raised from Green Savings Bonds to its chosen green projects within two years².

The framework has changed. Bonds bought after 8 April 2026 follow a new Green Financing Framework announced by the Government in November 2025. In the new framework, the Government now plans to use some of the money raised through Green Savings Bonds to help fund nuclear energy projects². Bonds bought or renewed before 8 April 2026 continue to follow the previous Green Financing Framework created in 2021².

The Government will publish details about how the money is being spent and what the environmental benefits are³. That reporting commitment is what makes the green label checkable rather than just a name.

It is worth being clear about what this product is and is not. A Green Savings Bond is a savings product with a fixed rate and government backing; the green element is about where an equivalent amount of money is directed, not about the rate you earn or the risk you take. If you want to understand how green and ethical savings products more broadly compare, the page on ethical and green savings sets out the different approaches providers take.

Managing your Bond online and what happens at maturity

You manage the Bond online at nsandi.com¹. NS&I will contact you to let you know your options at least 30 days before your Bond matures². You then decide whether to renew the Bond for another three-year term, switch to another NS&I account, or cash it in⁴.

If you choose to renew for another three-year term, you receive the interest rate quoted in your letter⁴. That is a new rate for a new term, not the rate you originally signed up for. If you want to switch to another NS&I account instead, NS&I needs to receive your instruction no later than two working days before your fixed term investment matures⁶.

To cash in a Green Savings Bond, you need your NS&I or account number and bank account details to hand⁴. If you are not registered, you can also cash in Green Savings Bonds online without having to create an account⁴.

If the holder dies, the money in the Bond becomes part of the holder's estate and the Bond continues to earn interest¹. An inherited Bond can be transferred into your name even if it takes you over the investment limit for that Issue, but no more Bonds of the same Issue can be bought¹. This is different from Premium Bonds, which cannot be passed on and must instead be cashed out by the executor, or left for another 12 months on the death of the holder¹⁶. If you are dealing with an NS&I holding after a death, the page on NS&I accounts and bonds explains how the different products handle it.

Government backing: how your savings are protected

NS&I is the UK government-owned savings bank, backed by the UK government¹⁷. It is backed by HM Treasury, the government's economic and finance ministry¹⁹. That backing is the protection: 100% of all NS&I savings are fully protected, and NS&I is not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme⁴.

This is a different model from an ordinary bank or building society. Deposits at a bank or building society are protected by the FSCS up to a limit, currently £120,000 per person per institution, with a temporary high balance rule that can cover larger sums for a period after certain life events such as a house sale²⁰. NS&I does not work that way. Because it is backed by the Treasury, the FSCS limit does not apply to it, and the full balance is protected⁴.

That distinction matters if you are holding a large sum. Someone with £100,000 in a Green Savings Bond has the whole amount backed by the government, whereas the same sum in a single bank account would exceed the FSCS limit and the excess would not be covered if the bank failed⁴. The page on how FSCS protection works for savings explains the bank and building society side, and what happens to money above the FSCS limit covers the position for sums over the limit.

The protection covers all NS&I products, as well as the old Post Office Savings Bank accounts and Premium Bonds²². If you have lost track of an NS&I holding, you can trace other NS&I products such as savings certificates, accounts and ISAs through the tracing service²¹. The page on how to trace lost NS&I savings and Premium Bonds sets out how that works.

Problems and complaints

If something goes wrong with a Green Savings Bond, NS&I has its own complaints process, and its complaints data is published²³. If you are not satisfied with NS&I's final response, you can take the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which is free and independent. The page on consumer protection in UK financial services explains how the ombudsman works and what it can and cannot do.

The most common source of difficulty with this product is the access restriction rather than a fault. Because the Bond cannot be cashed in before the end of the term, a change of circumstances after the cooling-off period has passed leaves no route to the money until maturity¹. That is a feature of the product, not a complaint ground, which is why the cooling-off window is the point at which to be sure.

If you are comparing this Bond with other fixed-term options, the pages on fixed-rate bonds and fixed-term savings and what happens when a fixed-rate savings account matures cover the wider market and the maturity process. The page on NS&I accounts and bonds explains how the different NS&I products compare, and the NS&I brand page covers the provider itself.