Send Money from the UK to Australia
Fees and exchange-rate margins from the UK to Australia vary widely. Compare what your recipient actually receives, not the advertised fee.
What does your recipient in Australia actually get?
AUDBest checked payout · on £1,000A$1,868.98
At the mid-market rate · £1,000A$1,876.24
Wise · fee percentage of amount · checked September 2026A$27.79 more than the lowest of the 3 amounts we hold for this corridor.
1 GBP = 1.8762 AUD
30-day range1.88 – 1.92 AUD
Every provider pays your recipient less than the benchmark. The gap is the rate margin, and it is usually larger than the transfer fee. How the margin worksGBP→AUD reference rate for Sep 10, 2026, updated automatically · Rates By Exchange Rate API · 30-day series: European Central Bank
Compare 4 ways to send money to Australia
Checked recipient amounts cover 3 of 4 providers here, collected from the Wise Comparison API — which quotes its own operator among them. The rest show each provider's published terms, and are ordered by payout coverage rather than by amount.
Recipient amounts collected and stored, not fetched as this page loads. Exchange rates move daily. Fees below are quoted for bank transfer at 1000 GBP.
| Provider | Recipient getsby bank transfer | What it costs | Arrives | Payout | Open provider |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Recipient amount checked (3) | |||||
 | A$1,868.98A$27.79 more than the lowest of the 3 we checked | £3.810.00% rate margin, measured | Minutes to days | Payout methods: Bank deposit | Go to Wise |
 | A$1,859.55 | £0.990.78% rate margin, measured | Varies | Payout methods: Bank deposit | Go to Remitly |
 Established agent network | A$1,841.19 | £2.991.56% rate margin, measured | Varies | Payout methods: Bank deposit, Cash pickup | Go to Western Union |
| Published terms only (1) | |||||
 Cash collection, unusual for a high-income destination | Check provider | Flat fee per transferRate not published — confirm before sending | Minutes | Payout methods: Bank deposit, Cash pickup | Go to WorldRemit |
- Recipient amount checked (3)
- Best value
Mid-market rate with volume discounts on large transfers
- Recipient gets (bank transfer)
- A$1,868.98A$27.79 more than the lowest of the 3 we checked
- Cost
- £3.810.00% rate margin, measured
- Arrives
- Minutes to days
- Payout
- Payout methods: Bank deposit
- Lowest advertised fee
Straightforward bank deposits with a familiar app
- Recipient gets (bank transfer)
- A$1,859.55
- Cost
- £0.990.78% rate margin, measured
- Arrives
- Varies
- Payout
- Payout methods: Bank deposit
Established agent network
- Recipient gets (bank transfer)
- A$1,841.19
- Cost
- £2.991.56% rate margin, measured
- Arrives
- Varies
- Payout
- Payout methods: Bank deposit, Cash pickup
- Published terms only (1)
Cash collection, unusual for a high-income destination
- Recipient gets (bank transfer)
- Check provider
- Cost
- Flat fee per transferRate not published — confirm before sending
- Arrives
- Minutes
- Payout
- Payout methods: Bank deposit, Cash pickup
What it costs has two parts: the advertised fee, and the exchange-rate margin kept by paying your recipient less than the mid-market rate. The margin is usually the larger, and is never labelled as a fee. Figures are each provider’s published terms, plus bank-transfer quotes from the Wise Comparison API, a source operated by a company this site also ranks — open a provider for a live quote. Recipient amounts are shown only for the providers we hold a checked figure for, which is some of those listed here rather than all of them.
Ordered by the amount the recipient receives, highest first, across every provider we hold a checked figure for — then by payout coverage, delivery speed and published fees. Affiliate arrangements never affect this order.
- Best value — Highest amount reaching the recipient on our benchmark transfer, among the providers we hold a checked amount for — which is some of those listed, not all of them.
- Lowest advertised fee — Lowest advertised transfer fee where a specific figure is published.
Where two providers tie, the one supporting more payout types is listed first, then the faster one, then alphabetically. A label is left unawarded whenever the data we hold cannot support it — we would rather show fewer claims than invented ones. Those amounts cover some of the providers listed, not all of them, and the set is chosen by the source that supplies them rather than by us. Full methodology
Independent — providers cannot pay for placement or ranking · Consistent — every checked amount measured on the same corridor at the same send amount, and any fee quoted on a different basis says so on its own row · Transparent — the advertised fee kept separate from the rate margin
Quick verdict: the best way to send money to Australia
Each line names the provider that leads on one specific need, and why. There is no single winner because there is no single question — the lowest fee and the fastest delivery are rarely the same provider.
- If you want the most money to arriveWiseBest valueMid-market rate with volume discounts on large transfers
- If you want the lowest advertised feeRemitlyLowest advertised fee£0.99 bank transfer at 1000 GBP.
Chosen by the same rules that order the table, from each provider’s published terms. A need with no clear leader is left out rather than handed to whoever happens to be first.
How much you send changes which provider is cheapest
A transfer costs two things: a fee you can see, and a cut of the exchange rate you cannot. They scale in opposite directions, so the best provider for £200 to Australia is often not the best provider for £5,000.
The flat fee is most of what you pay
On a small transfer a £5 fee is a real percentage of the money. A rate margin of half a percent on £200 is one dollar — small enough to ignore. Sort by the fee and take the lowest one you trust.
The exchange rate is most of what you pay
The fee stops mattering and the rate takes over. Half a percent on £5,000 is £25 — five times a typical fee, and no provider calls it a charge. A zero-fee offer on a large transfer is the one most worth checking.
GBP to AUD at common amounts
| You send | Mid-market value | Load into calculator |
|---|---|---|
| £100.00 | A$187.62 | |
| £250.00 | A$469.06 | |
| £500.00 | A$938.12 | |
| £1,000 | A$1,876 | |
| £2,500 | A$4,691 | |
| £5,000 | A$9,381 |
Pick a row to load that amount into the calculator at the top of the page. These are mid-market values, not provider quotes — every service pays your recipient somewhat less, so use them as the figure to measure an offer against.
What is the cheapest way to send money to Australia?
Wise delivers the most money on our benchmark transfer — fee and exchange rate together, which is the comparison that matters. Lowest published fee is a different question, and on most corridors a different answer:
Fees as published by each provider on their own site, checked by hand.
What is the fastest way to send money to Australia?
WorldRemit quotes the fastest delivery on this corridor at minutes. Published speeds describe the fastest route a provider offers, not every route: paying by card and sending to a wallet is usually near-instant, while a bank transfer funded by direct debit takes longer whoever you send with.
Australia at a glance
- Currency
- AUD · Australian dollar
- Payout methods
- Bank deposit · Cash pickup
- Typical delivery
- Minutes to minutes to days
- Cash pickup
- Available from 2 of 4 providers
- 1 of the 4 providers can deliver within minutes, including WorldRemit.
- Cash pickup is available through WorldRemit and Western Union — no bank account needed.
Before you send to Australia
- This is a migration and property corridor between two high-income economies rather than a family-remittance one, so bank deposit dominates and the usual remittance-cost framing matters less than the exchange rate on larger sums.
- British state pensions paid to Australia are frozen at the rate first received rather than uprated annually, unlike pensions paid into the EEA. That is a significant long-term consideration for anyone retiring there.
What it costs to send money to Australia
Sending money from the UK to Australia converts pound sterlings (GBP) into Australian dollars (AUD). Most of the real cost is not the headline fee — it is the exchange-rate margin, the gap between your quoted rate and the mid-market rate banks use between themselves. Two providers can both advertise "no fees" and still differ by several percent on what actually arrives.
This is a migration and property corridor between two high-income economies, so bank deposit dominates and the exchange rate on larger sums matters more than the fee.
That is why the comparison above leads with how your recipient can be paid rather than with a headline price: match the service to how they actually want the money, then check the final quote.
How to choose the right provider
Compare the amount received, not the fee
Enter the same amount with two or three providers and compare what your recipient in Australia actually receives in Australian dollars. That one number folds the fee and the rate margin together.
Match the payout method to your recipient
In Australia the common rails are bank deposit, plus limited cash pickup. A slightly pricier provider paying into the wallet or account they already use beats a cheaper one that means a trip to an agent.
Pay more for speed only when you need it
WorldRemit can deliver within minutes, but express usually costs more in fee or margin. If it is not urgent, the economy option on the same platform is often meaningfully cheaper.
Check cash pickup coverage before you send
WorldRemit and Western Union offer cash pickup in Australia. Check the specific branch is open and stocked before sending, especially outside major cities.
Verify the provider is licensed
Any service moving money out of the UK should be registered with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Everyone we list is — worth checking for any service you find elsewhere.
Australia corridor insights
Researched figures for this corridor, each linked to its original source.
An estimated 970,950 England-born people lived in Australia as of June 2025 — the second-largest overseas-born group, after India overtook England as the top source country for the first time.
England-born migration to Australia has been falling steadily from a peak of just over a million in 2013 — this is a legacy settlement population, not an active migration flow.
The England-born population in Australia has a median age above 60, reflecting the post-war migration wave — which is why pension and property payments, rather than wage remittances, define this corridor.
Unlike pensions paid into the EEA, UK state pensions paid to Australia are frozen at the rate first received and never uprated — a difference worth thousands of pounds over a retirement.
House of Commons Library · 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
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Before you send
Ready to compare your transfer?
See rates, fees and delivery options for 4 services side by side.