The Bank of England published the UK’s official reserve figures for end-August 2026 on 3 September. Gold stood at 9,976,041.279 fine troy ounces, around 310.3 tonnes, valued at US$45,658.4 million and reported against the Government rather than the Bank. Twelve months earlier the same holding was 9,976,041.071 ounces and US$34,308.5 million. Gold is now 20.02 per cent of the Government’s reserve assets, against 16.24 per cent.
The weight moved by 0.208 of an ounce over those twelve months, about 6.5 grams against 310 tonnes, so the whole of the change in value is revaluation of the same metal. That weight is gross: the reported holding includes metal swapped or lent out, and the pledged portion of the reserves is given as US$221.5 million against the Government and US$157.6 million against the Bank, with no asset class named against either. A national holding quoted in tonnes states ownership at a reporting date and settles nothing about how much of the metal is unencumbered and free to move. The weight is also a measurement. It held at 9,976,041.071 ounces for seventy-nine consecutive months from January 2020, moved to 9,976,041.213 in May 2026 and to 9,976,041.279 in June, and has stayed there since, with no cause given. Physical metal is recorded the other way round, one bar at a time: a weight list carries the bar number, the stamped fineness and the fine weight, and the holding record carries the name the bar stands in and whether it is pledged. An aggregate in tonnes carries none of that.
The absence of a split between metal held outright and metal placed out is a limit on what is disclosed. It is not evidence that any UK gold is lent, swapped or pledged.