Businesses and individuals should make surplus cash work harder

09 September 2026 | Mrge_Acontants

Businesses and people with surplus cash should make sure they’re making the most of that money, as it can be working quietly in the background raising additional funds if it is deposited in the right accounts.

Just 28% of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) actively manage their surplus cash, according to research from Cebr and Flagstone Investment Management, and 64% of SMEs are leaving their surplus cash in accounts that earn low or no interest. The result is each passive SME is losing as much as £18,000 of potential income from interest.

If you can tie up some cash for a period of time, you can often get a higher return than in an instant access account. But either way, you would be getting better returns on your cash by moving it out of your current account, when most don’t pay any interest.

What options are there for businesses?

There are various types of accounts that businesses can access to get their surplus cash working harder. For example, at the time of writing, the Tipton & Coseley Building Society Business Reward Saver pays 4.25% AER on deposits from limited companies between £5,000 and £1m.

Given the same Cebr Flagstone research found that the average small SME holds around £225,000 of surplus cash, putting this into the above account would generate £9,562.50 per year for you for no extra work. You can make one withdrawal a year, rising to two if the second withdrawal also closes the account.

However, you could earn more if you’re prepared to tie your money up for a longer period. For instance, at the time of writing, the Union Bank of India (UK) Ltd was paying 4.76% AER on its 1 Year Bond, on deposits between £1,000 and £1m. You could not access this money for the entire year, but in return you would receive £10,710 in interest on a deposit of £225,000.

These are amounts that could do a lot of good for a smaller business, and could even allow you to employ an additional person part-time.

What about individuals?

Individuals can also be slow to maximise the return on their savings, which can also become costly. Spring Savings found there are more than one million current accounts holding £50,000 or more which are earning no interest in the UK. The total amount held in these accounts was worth around £116 billion collectively at the end of March 2026 when the research was done.

However, this doesn’t include those accounts holding below £50,000, which would make the amount considerably higher. In total, the research showed that 91.2m current accounts across the UK were in credit when the research was done, and no interest was being paid on 87% of them.

Derek Sprawling, Head of Money at Spring, said: “Many savers may not realise just how much they could be missing out on by leaving larger sums in a current account that pays no interest. Often, it comes down to convenience or habit, but with balances of £50,000 or more, the missed returns can be significant.

“This is a reminder to check where your money is held and whether it could be working harder in a competitive savings account. There’s no need to compromise on access to receive a fair rate of return.”

What rates can individuals get?

The rates individuals can get will again depend on whether they’re happy to tie their money up for a period, or they want to be able to access their money instantly. For instant access, the Lemfi Instant Access Savings Account is paying 5% AER, but this includes a bonus for six months, and reverts to 3.04% AER after that. This rate, including the bonus, is paid on amounts between £1 and £250,000. You would be able to make withdrawals from this account without restriction, according to Moneyfacts.

If you are happy to wait before you access your money, the Afin Bank 3-Year Fixed Notice Account (Issue 3) pays 5% AER on amounts between £1,000 and £200,000 according to Moneyfacts, but you need to tie your money up for 36 months. So, before you commit to this, you must know you can leave that money in the account for the required period.

Remember, you need to always have some money that you can access quickly for emergencies. Many experts suggest this should be around three months’ worth of salary, so if an emergency happens such as your boiler breaking or your car breaking down, you have money at hand to be able to fix it.

Contact us

If you would like to find out how to make your money work harder for you, for business or personal savings, then please get in touch with us and we will explain what you need to know.