10-year minus 5-year gilt yield spread, United Kingdom

The 10-year minus 5-year gilt yield spread is the difference between the end-month nominal par yields on ten-year and five-year UK government bonds, both from the Bank of England's yield curve estimates. EconoMonitor calculates it from the two published series.

It measures the slope of the longer part of the UK yield curve. A positive spread means investors require more to lend for ten years than for five; a narrowing or negative spread suggests markets expect interest rates to fall over the medium term, or that strong demand for long-dated bonds from pension funds and insurers is holding long yields down. For banks, which fund themselves short and lend at fixed rates for several years, the slope affects the margin on new fixed-rate lending.

Read it as a different measure from the 10-year minus 2-year spreads shown for the other countries. The Bank of England series used here has no two-year maturity, so the UK spread starts at five years and is typically narrower than a 10-year minus 2-year spread would be; comparisons across countries should allow for that. Both yields are end-of-month readings, so a large move on the last trading days of a month carries into the spread for that whole month.

The 10-year minus 5-year gilt yield spread is at its lowest since March 2026, when it stood at 0.42 pp. Within ten years, the 10-year minus 5-year gilt yield spread beats 65% of readings; earlier years held the 10-year minus 5-year gilt yield spread higher.

Difference between the end-month 10-year and 5-year nominal par gilt yields. Formula: uk_gilt_10y - uk_gilt_5y.

Bank of England publishes the 10-year minus 5-year gilt yield spread monthly in Bank of England Database, in percentage points. Code: IUMMNPY (10-year gilt yield (nominal par)), IUMSNPY (5-year gilt yield (nominal par)); the spread is derived by EconoMonitor. Monthly basis: each month shows the value at the end of the month, not an average. Method for the 10-year minus 5-year gilt yield spread.