How to transfer an ISA

An ISA transfer moves your ISA from one provider to another without losing its tax-free status. The money never counts as a new deposit, so it does not use any of your £20,000 annual allowance, and interest or investment growth continues to be free of income tax and capital gains tax in the new account. The transfer is arranged between the two providers, not by you taking the money out.

The single most important rule is this: never withdraw the money yourself and pay it into a new ISA. interactive investor warns that doing this "will count as using your ISA allowance again", and the withdrawal may not be reversible¹. A transfer, by contrast, is a provider-to-provider transaction that the rules treat as the same money continuing its tax-free life in a new home.

Since 6 April 2024 the rules have been relaxed in ways that make transfers easier. You can transfer part of an account rather than the whole thing, even money paid in this tax year, and you can open and pay into multiple ISAs of the same type in one year². This page explains how the process works, the time limits providers must meet, what happens to investments in transit, and where a transfer is not possible.

Whole or partial transfers: this year's money versus earlier years

For many years the rules drew a hard line between money paid into an ISA in the current tax year and money from earlier years. Current-year subscriptions had to be transferred in full or left alone, which meant a saver who had paid in £10,000 since April could not move just half of it to a better paying account. That restriction was removed on 6 April 2024.

The legislation now states that "the current year's subscriptions and the previous years' subscriptions may be transferred in whole or in part" for accounts other than Junior ISAs⁶. The amendment is explicit about "allowing the partial transfer of subscriptions made in the current tax year"². In practice, this means you can move any slice of an ISA balance, whether it was paid in this April or ten years ago, and leave the rest where it is.

Which? describes the change in the same terms: from April 2024 you can transfer part of your balance from one provider to another, no matter when the money was paid in⁷. Its cash ISA guidance adds that this replaced the old position where you were forced to transfer the lot⁸.

Partial transfers are useful in several situations:

• Moving only old years' money to a fixed rate ISA while keeping this year's savings accessible
• Splitting a large balance across two providers to stay within deposit protection limits
• Leaving a small amount behind to keep an account open, for example a Help to Buy: ISA that must stay with its provider to preserve the bonus
• Testing a new provider's service with part of your savings before committing the rest

One point to check before asking for a partial transfer: some accounts do not accept transfers in, and some fixed rate accounts only accept transfers in at the point of opening. The receiving provider's terms will say. The dedicated page on partial transfers covers the detail, and ISA promotions and transfer offers explains the boosted rates some providers offer to attract transferred balances.

How to transfer an ISA: your new provider does it

The process always starts with the provider you are moving to, not the one you are leaving. Leeds Building Society states that "to transfer your ISA to a different provider, you'll need to use the new provider's transfer process"³. Principality makes the same point: the request always goes to the new provider, not the old one⁹. The new provider arranges the transfer on your behalf, contacting your current provider and requesting the money or investments¹⁰.

The steps are normally:

1. Choose the new account and check it accepts transfers in of the type you hold
2. Ask the new provider for an ISA transfer form, in the app, online, by phone or on paper
3. Give details of your existing ISA, including the provider and account
4. Say whether you want a whole or partial transfer, and, for investments, whether you want them sold or moved as they are
5. The new provider contacts your old provider, and the money or investments move directly between them
6. Your old account closes, or reduces in size if the transfer was partial

You do not need to tell your old provider anything, though it is worth checking whether it charges an exit fee, particularly on fixed rate cash ISAs, where an early access charge may apply. The page on ISA fees and charges covers the costs that can arise.

The Financial Conduct Authority's glossary defines an ISA transfer as "a transaction resulting from a decision, made with or without advice from a firm, by a customer who is an individual, to transfer the investments (or their value) held in his existing ISA in favour of another ISA"¹². The decision is yours; the mechanics belong to the providers.

How long an ISA transfer takes: 15 working days for cash, 30 days for other ISAs

Cash ISA transfers are subject to a time limit set out in the regulations: providers have 15 working days to complete them. Leeds Building Society, Dudley Building Society, Principality and Coventry Building Society all state the same figure, up to 15 working days³. Nationwide says a cash ISA transferred to another provider takes up to 15 working days once it receives the request¹⁴, and Principality measures the clock from the same point: when the current provider receives the request⁹.

For other types of ISA, including stocks and shares ISAs and transfers of a stocks and shares ISA to a cash ISA, the limit is 30 calendar days³. The Nottingham gives both figures together: up to 15 working days for cash, or up to 30 days for a stocks and shares ISA moving to a cash ISA¹⁵.

The industry has gone further than the rules require. The Building Societies Association set a target for 2025 of a minimum of 85 per cent of cash ISA transfers to be completed within seven working days, and reported that 90 per cent of cash ISA transfers were completed within that timeframe between 1 January and 31 December 2025¹⁶. So while 15 working days is the outside limit, most cash transfers finish much sooner.

There is a separate 30-day rule that works in the other direction. Under the regulations, ISAs lose their tax-advantaged status if they are not transferred within 30 days of the investor receiving notice from the ISA manager¹⁷. This applies where a manager stops acting, for example because it is leaving the ISA market, and tells you to move your account. If you receive such a notice, the 30-day clock is already running.

If a transfer overruns, complain to the provider that is holding things up. The page on compensation for delayed ISA transfers explains what you may be owed, and complaining about an ISA provider sets out the route to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Stocks and shares transfers: cash or existing investments

A stocks and shares ISA can be transferred in two ways, and the difference matters for your money. Which? explains the choice: "For a stocks and shares Isa, you'll either do an 'in-specie' transfer, which keeps you invested throughout, or a cash transfer"¹⁸. In an in-specie transfer, your holdings move to the new provider as they are, and you stay invested in the market throughout. In a cash transfer, the investments are sold, the cash moves, and you buy back in at the other end.

Which method you get is usually decided by the new provider's terms. Transact, for example, states that "we can make the transfer by cash or we can transfer your investment holdings direct to your new provider in their current form", depending on what the receiving provider accepts¹⁹. The new provider can confirm which method it uses before a transfer starts, because a cash transfer leaves you out of the market for up to 30 days, during which prices may rise or fall.

The cash route has a second consequence: selling investments inside an ISA is free of capital gains tax, but if the transfer stalls or the money is paid out to you rather than to the new provider, the tax treatment can change. Which? has documented cases where stocks and shares ISA transfers went wrong, with money left sitting in cash or paid out of the ISA wrapper¹⁸.

Where the money can move depends on the type of ISA you hold. Official statistics summarise the long-standing rule: funds invested in a stocks and shares ISA can only be transferred to another stocks and shares ISA, while funds in a cash ISA can transfer to a stocks and shares ISA or another cash ISA²⁰. The legislation adds that cash ISA subscriptions may be transferred to a stocks and shares account if the investor is 18 or over²¹. Which? confirms that you can transfer existing cash ISAs and stocks and shares ISAs into a new stocks and shares ISA without affecting your allowance⁴.

A major change is coming. From April 2027, you will not be able to transfer a stocks and shares ISA into a cash ISA²⁴. The government's tax-free savings newsletter states that "transfers from non-cash ISAs into cash ISAs will not be permitted" from 6 April 2027⁵, and its factsheet on the ISA reform confirms that transfers from a cash ISA to a non-cash ISA will remain possible²². Which? reports the reasoning: a ban on transfers from stocks and shares ISAs to cash ISAs, because otherwise people would be able to circumvent the reduced cash ISA limit²⁵. The draft legislation includes an exception allowing transfers into a cash account if the account investor is 65 or over at the end of the year²³. The page on changes to the cash ISA limit covers the wider reform.

Where an ISA transfer is not possible

Not every provider accepts transfers in, and not every account can receive every type of money. NS&I, for example, states of its Direct ISA: "we don't currently accept transfers from other providers into our Direct ISA"²⁶. A provider that does not accept transfers in is not breaking any rule; acceptance is a commercial decision, so check before choosing a destination account.

The direction of travel is also restricted by ISA type. As above, stocks and shares ISA money can only go to another stocks and shares ISA²⁰, and from 6 April 2027 it will no longer be able to move into a cash ISA at all⁵. Trustnet's guidance notes the same practical point: "it is possible to switch to another product, however, but it is difficult, and not all ISAs will accept transfers", and the provider handles the switch so the tax breaks are not lost²⁷.

Fixed rate cash ISAs raise a different obstacle: transferring out before the end of the fixed term usually triggers an early access charge, which can outweigh the benefit of moving. The page on fixed rate cash ISAs explains the charges and what happens at maturity, when a transfer out becomes free.

Which? also notes that some accounts are simply not built for transfers, and that the relaxation of the rules in April 2024 removed some of the old friction, such as being forced to transfer the whole balance²⁸. If a provider refuses a transfer you believe should be allowed, you can complain, and the Financial Ombudsman Service can look at whether the provider handled the request correctly.

Lifetime, Innovative Finance and Help to Buy ISAs

Lifetime ISAs sit inside the same transfer framework, with their own conditions. The draft 2026 regulations set out where stocks and shares or innovative finance subscriptions may go, including a Lifetime ISA as one of the permitted destinations²³. A Lifetime ISA can be transferred between providers, but the 25 per cent government bonus and the withdrawal rules mean a transfer needs care: the page on transferring a Lifetime ISA covers the detail, and the Lifetime ISA withdrawal charge explains what happens if money comes out for anything other than a first home or retirement.

Innovative Finance ISAs, which hold peer-to-peer loans, work through the same transfer process. Which? explains that the transfer form is completed with the innovative finance ISA provider you want to switch to, and that money already in a cash ISA or stocks and shares ISA can be transferred to an innovative finance ISA²⁹. But the mechanics are different from other ISAs: "transfers take place in cash, so if you hold stocks and shares Isas, all of your investments would be sold and the cash would be used to invest"²⁹. There is no in-specie option, because peer-to-peer loans cannot be moved between platforms as holdings.

Which? also warns against the DIY route here: withdrawing money out of your other ISAs to transfer could impact your current ISA allowance²⁹. The comparison page on Innovative Finance ISAs versus stocks and shares ISAs sets out the differences in risk.

Help to Buy: ISAs are a special case. They are closed to new savers, but existing holders can keep paying in until 30 November 2029 and must claim the government bonus by 1 December 2030. A Help to Buy: ISA cannot be transferred to another provider as a Help to Buy: ISA, because no provider offers them any more; the usual route is a transfer into a Lifetime ISA, which the page on moving a Help to Buy ISA into a Lifetime ISA explains, or into a standard cash ISA, which forfeits the bonus. See Help to Buy ISAs for the full rules.

Junior ISAs: transfers before and at 18

Junior ISAs have their own transfer rules, stricter than the adult ones. The legislation provides that all or part of previous years' subscriptions may be transferred between Junior ISA accounts for the same named child, and if current year's subscriptions are transferred, all of the current year's subscriptions must go with them³⁰. Where current year's subscriptions move between Junior ISA accounts, they count towards the child's subscription limit for that year³⁰. Money can move between a Junior cash ISA and a Junior stocks and shares ISA, but always for the same child: a Junior ISA cannot be transferred to a different child, or to an adult.

The Nottingham confirms the practical position: before the age of 18, a Junior ISA can be transferred to another provider's Junior ISA¹⁵. The transfer is requested by the registered contact, usually a parent or guardian, and the receiving provider arranges it in the usual way. The page on how to transfer a Junior ISA covers the process.

At 18, everything changes. Government guidance states that "Junior ISAs automatically turn into an adult ISA when the child turns 18"³¹. NS&I describes what this means for its own account: "on the child's 18th birthday, we'll automatically transfer the money to an adult cash ISA from NS&I"³². From that point the account holder, now an adult, can transfer it between adult providers under the standard rules. There is no transfer from a Junior ISA directly into an adult ISA before the 18th birthday; the conversion happens first. The page on what happens to a Junior ISA at 18 covers the transition, and Junior ISAs explained the accounts themselves.

No limit on the number of transfers

There is no cap on how often you can move an ISA. Dudley Building Society states it directly: "there is no limit to how many ISA transfers you can make per year"¹³. The Nottingham says the same, that there is no limit to how many times an ISA can be transferred per tax year¹⁵, and Nationwide confirms there is no limit on how many times an ISA can be transferred each tax year¹⁴.

Transfers also sit outside the annual allowance. Which? notes that you are "not limited to transferring within the £20,000 annual Isa limit"²⁴, because transferred money is not a new subscription. The page on whether a transfer uses your allowance explains the distinction.

Since 6 April 2024 you can also hold and pay into multiple ISAs of the same type in one tax year. Which? reported the change: "savers will be able to open and pay into multiple Isas of the same type annually", replacing the one-of-each-type rule⁷, and notes that you can now open and pay into an unlimited number of ISAs in the same tax year²⁸. interactive investor adds that when transferring, "you'll be able to contribute to both the old and the new one in the same tax year"³³. NS&I's product page confirms the rule change in the same terms²⁶.

Consolidation is one of the main uses of this freedom. Bestinvest explains that you can consolidate multiple ISAs by moving them into one of your existing ISA accounts, as long as your provider accepts ISA transfers, or into a new ISA³⁴. Bringing together old ISAs left with former employers' schemes, childhood accounts converted at 18, or balances scattered across providers makes the money easier to manage and can unlock better rates on larger balances.

The practical limits are time and cost, not rules. Each transfer takes up to 15 working days for cash or 30 days for investments, fixed rate accounts may charge for early exit, and a cash transfer of investments leaves you out of the market. Repeated transfers are legal, but each one deserves a reason.