How To Transfer An ISA – What You Need To Know

To transfer an ISA, contact the provider you want to move to and ask for an ISA transfer. They’ll request the money (or investments) from your old provider for you. Don’t withdraw the money yourself, because it loses its tax-free status and paying it back in uses up your allowance.

A transfer doesn’t count towards your £20,000 allowance, you can move all or part of an ISA, and it should take no longer than 15 working days between cash ISAs, or 30 calendar days for other transfers.

Budget update, 28 October 2026: the planned ban on moving money from a stocks and shares ISA into a cash ISA for under-65s, due from April 2027, has been scrapped along with the cut to the cash ISA limit. You’ll still be able to transfer between any types of ISA. Here’s what else changed for ISAs.

Key takeaways

• Keep your ISA open and use the transfer process. Closing it and withdrawing the money loses the tax-free wrapper.
• Transfers don’t use your allowance. You can move £5,000 or £50,000 and still have your full £20,000 to pay in this year.
• You can transfer all or part, including money you’ve paid in this tax year, as often as you like.
• Check before you move: exit fees, fixed-rate penalties, and whether the new provider accepts transfers in.

What is an ISA?

An Individual Savings Account (ISA) is a tax-free savings or investment account in the UK. There are four types you can pay into as an adult, plus one for children:

• Cash ISA: tax-free interest on savings.
• Stocks and shares ISA: tax-free growth and income from investments like funds and shares.
• Innovative finance ISA: tax-free returns from peer-to-peer lending and similar.
• Lifetime ISA: a 25% government bonus towards a first home or for later life.
• Junior ISA: tax-free savings or investments for under-18s.

Each tax year you get an ISA allowance, the maximum you can pay in across all your ISAs. It’s £20,000 for 2026/27 and 2027/28. Money you move by transfer is already inside the ISA system, so it doesn’t count.

How to transfer an ISA?

1. Check your current ISA. Look for exit fees, and if it’s a fixed-rate cash ISA, any penalty for leaving early (often a number of days’ interest).
2. Pick the new ISA and check it accepts transfers in. Providers don’t have to accept them, and some only accept certain types.
3. Start the transfer with the new provider. Fill in their ISA transfer form, usually online or in their app. You’ll need your old account details and National Insurance number.
4. Choose how much to move. All of it or part of it, and say whether you want this year’s money included.
5. Leave the old account alone until the transfer completes. Don’t close it or withdraw.
6. Check it’s arrived and that the new provider shows the right amount.

If your transfer is taking longer than expected, your first port of call should be your ISA provider. If you’re unhappy with their response, you can contact the Financial Ombudsman Service.

How long does an ISA transfer take?

Does transferring an ISA count as opening a new one?

No. Transferring an ISA doesn’t count as a new subscription under the ISA rules, even if the money lands in a brand new account. You’re moving existing money within the ISA system, so your annual allowance is untouched.

Always keep your ISA open!

It is important not to close the ISA you want to transfer. If you do, you lose that tax-free protective bubble around your money, and putting it back into an ISA eats into your annual ISA allowance.

By keeping your ISA open, it can be transferred without issues and without affecting this year’s allowance. If you transfer a £10k ISA, you’ll still have a £20k allowance this year. The same goes if you transfer £25k or £47,500. If you withdraw it by closing the ISA and then put it into another ISA, you’ll use £10k of that £20k allowance.

If you have more than £20k, you won’t be able to put it all back into an ISA in one year. That’s why the transfer route matters. (A flexible ISA lets you take cash out and put it back in the same ISA in the same tax year, but that’s not the same as moving providers.)

Can I transfer part of my ISA?

Yes. Since April 2024 you can transfer all or part of an ISA, and it doesn’t matter whether the money was paid in this tax year or in previous years. Before then, money paid in during the current tax year had to be moved in one go.

So if you have £10,000 from this tax year and £50,000 from earlier years, you could move just £5,000 of this year’s money, half of the older money, or the lot. That’s entirely up to you.

Can I transfer between different types of ISA?

Yes, with a few exceptions for Lifetime and Junior ISAs.

Cash ISA to stocks and shares ISA

You’re moving from a savings account that can’t fall in value to investments that can. That can make sense for money you won’t need for five years or more, but think about your attitude to risk first. I’ve compared the two in cash ISA vs stocks and shares ISA. When you invest, your capital is at risk.

Stocks and shares ISA to cash ISA

This moves money from investments that go up and down into a stable account earning interest. People often do it as they get close to needing the money, such as approaching retirement or a house purchase. Under-65s were going to lose this option in April 2027, but the Budget dropped that plan.

Transferring into a Lifetime ISA

Moving money from another ISA into a Lifetime ISA is allowed, but only up to the £4,000 Lifetime ISA limit for that year, and it counts towards that limit. Money transferred in may qualify for the 25% bonus.

Transferring out of a Lifetime ISA

You can move a Lifetime ISA to another Lifetime ISA provider without a charge. Moving it into any other type of ISA before you’re 60 counts as a withdrawal, so you’d pay the 25% charge, which takes back the bonus and a slice of your own money too.

Transferring Junior ISAs

You can move a child’s money between their Junior stocks and shares ISA and Junior cash ISA, or between providers, and from an old Child Trust Fund into a Junior ISA. You can’t move money between a Junior ISA and an adult ISA. Remember, the money is locked until the child turns 18, when the Junior ISA becomes an adult ISA.

Read nextIs 60k A Good Salary In The UK in 2026?

Transferring a stocks and shares ISA: cash or investments?

With a stocks and shares ISA there are two ways to move:

• As investments (sometimes called an in specie transfer). Your funds or shares move across as they are. You stay invested, but the new platform has to offer the same funds, and it can take longer.
• As cash. Your old provider sells everything and sends the money. It’s often quicker and simpler, but you’re out of the market while the cash is in transit, so you could miss a rise (or a fall).

Check both providers’ fees for selling, transferring out and buying again, and whether the new provider offers to cover any exit fees.

Can I transfer more than one ISA?

Yes. You can move several ISAs into one account. It’s easy to lose track if you have ISAs scattered around, and maybe one you forgot you even opened and paid into! This is often called consolidating your ISAs, bringing them together in one pot.

The main thing to think about is protection from the FSCS (Financial Services Compensation Scheme), which pays out if a firm fails:

• Cash ISAs are covered up to £120,000 per person, per banking licence. Some banks share a licence, so check before you split money between brands.
• Stocks and shares ISAs are covered up to £85,000 per person, per firm, if the firm fails and can’t return your money. The FSCS never covers your investments falling in value.

So if you had £150,000 in cash ISAs with one bank, only £120,000 would be protected if that bank went bust. Splitting it between two banks with separate licences would keep it all covered.

Can you transfer money from an ISA to a current account?

Yes, but that’s a withdrawal, not a transfer, so think about these points first:

• How: usually online, in the app, by phone or in branch.
• Allowance: taking money out doesn’t give you any allowance back. Paying it back in counts as new money, unless your ISA is flexible and you replace it in the same tax year.
• Lifetime ISA: withdrawing before 60 for anything other than a first home costs 25%.
• Tax: once it’s out, any interest or growth on that money can be taxed.
• Fixed rates: fixed-rate cash ISAs may charge a penalty or not allow withdrawals at all.

Remember, always check the specific terms of your ISA for any restrictions or charges.

Reasons to transfer an ISA

You might want to move your ISA to another provider for lots of reasons, like:

• You opened your cash ISA years ago and better rates are available now.
• Your provider’s fees have gone up and you’re not happy.
• Another provider has more investment options.
• You’re unimpressed with the service or the app.
• You want all your ISAs in one place.
• A provider is offering a cash bonus or other incentive to switch.

If you want to check how your cash ISA rate compares, I’ve rounded up the savings accounts I rate.

How much can you pay into an ISA?

Your annual ISA allowance is £20,000, and it’s the same for 2027/28. When the tax year ends on 5 April, any allowance you haven’t used is lost and a new one starts on 6 April. That’s why so many people put whatever they can afford into ISAs before the end of the tax year.

You can split the allowance across different types of ISA however you like, but you can’t go over £20,000 in total. Since April 2024 you can also pay into more than one ISA of the same type in a tax year, so you could split your cash ISA savings across two providers if you wanted. The planned £12,000 cash ISA limit for under-65s from April 2027 has been scrapped.

There’s a maximum of £4,000 a year for a Lifetime ISA. An example of how you could use your allowance: put £4,000 into a Lifetime ISA, £6,000 into a cash ISA and £10,000 into a stocks and shares ISA. If you could only put £4k, £6k and £9k away, the £1,000 left over would vanish when the tax year ends. The Junior ISA limit is a separate £9,000 per child.

Can you transfer shares into ISAs?

Not directly, unless they come from certain employee share schemes. The usual route is called “Bed and ISA”:

• Sell and rebuy: you sell the shares outside your ISA and buy them back inside your stocks and shares ISA. Many platforms do both steps for you.
• Capital Gains Tax: selling can create a taxable gain if your gains for the year are above the £3,000 annual exempt amount. Once inside the ISA, future gains are tax-free.
• Allowance: the amount you put back in counts towards your £20,000 ISA allowance.
• Employee shares: shares from a Save As You Earn (SAYE) scheme or a Share Incentive Plan can be moved straight into an ISA without selling, within time limits.

What’s changing for ISA transfers in 2027 and beyond?

• April 2027: nothing. The planned ban on non-cash to cash ISA transfers for under-65s was scrapped in the 28 October 2026 Budget, along with the cash ISA cut and the 22% charge on cash in stocks and shares ISAs.
• From 29 October 2026: taking money out of a Lifetime ISA to buy a first home over £450,000 costs 20% instead of 25%. Other early withdrawals, including moving to another ISA type, still cost 25%.
• April 2029: the new First Time Buyer ISA replaces the Lifetime ISA for new savers. You’ll be able to transfer in from other ISAs up to £4,000 a year and transfer out any amount, but not move a Lifetime ISA into it. Help to Buy ISA holders can move their whole balance in between 6 April 2029 and 1 December 2030.

FAQs

Final thoughts

If it’s been some time since you opened your ISA, it’s well worth looking at the products that have come to market since. You might find your money is only making 2% when a higher rate is available elsewhere.

Being able to easily transfer your ISA to take advantage of that better rate is key. Now you know how to transfer an ISA, it’ll be a breeze.