How to transfer a Junior ISA

Moving a child's Junior ISA to a different provider is done through a formal transfer, not by taking the money out and paying it back in. The money stays inside the Junior ISA wrapper throughout, so it keeps its tax-free status and does not use up any of the child's annual allowance.

The rules are set by legislation rather than by the providers, and they are narrower than the rules for adult ISAs. A Junior ISA can only be transferred to another Junior ISA while the child is under 18¹. Cash and stocks and shares Junior ISAs can be switched between each other, but a Junior ISA cannot be moved into a different type of ISA². A Child Trust Fund can be moved into a Junior ISA, but not the other way round³.

The mechanics are straightforward: the new provider supplies the transfer form, you give it the details of the current account, and the two providers move the money between them. What varies is whether a partial transfer is allowed, whether the current provider charges an exit fee, and whether the whole balance has to move at once.

Moving a Junior ISA to another provider: the rules

Transfers between providers are allowed, but they must be done using an official transfer process⁶. That means the money never passes through your hands. The receiving provider asks the old one to release the account, and the balance moves directly across.

The legislation sets out what can move. All or part of previous years' subscriptions can be transferred, and if the current year's subscriptions are being transferred, all of the current year's subscriptions must go together². A child may hold a cash Junior ISA and a stocks and shares Junior ISA, but only one of each type, though either can be moved to a different account manager².

That single-account rule shapes how transfers work in practice. If you are moving to the same type of Junior ISA, the transfer normally has to be in its entirety, because you cannot end up holding two of the same type⁴. Some providers are stricter than others about what they will accept. NS&I, for example, states that it will always transfer the whole amount of a Junior ISA balance⁷. Others accept partial transfers of a cash Junior ISA where the current provider permits it⁴.

The practical steps are the same whichever provider you are moving to:

1. Open the new Junior ISA, or start the transfer with the provider you have chosen.
2. Complete the transfer authority form the new provider gives you.
3. Give the details of the current provider and the account number⁸.
4. Let the two providers move the money between them. Do not withdraw it yourself.

Cash or stocks and shares: which transfers are allowed

The rules for Junior ISAs are more flexible than the rules for adult ISAs in one important way. For adults, funds invested in a stocks and shares ISA can only be transferred to another stocks and shares ISA, while cash ISA funds can move to a stocks and shares ISA or to another cash ISA¹⁰. A Junior Cash ISA, by contrast, can be transferred into a Junior Stocks and Shares ISA, and the reverse is also possible⁴.

What is not allowed is moving a Junior ISA into a different type of ISA. A Junior ISA can only be transferred to another Junior ISA¹¹. The rule that lets an adult move a cash ISA or a stocks and shares ISA into any other type of ISA specifically excludes Junior ISAs¹².

The legislation spells out the combinations. From a cash Junior ISA, all or part of previous years' subscriptions, and all of the current year's subscriptions if any of them are moving, can go to a stocks and shares Junior ISA for the same child, or the whole balance can go to another cash Junior ISA². From a stocks and shares Junior ISA, a transfer to another stocks and shares account must comprise all of the subscriptions held in the old account immediately before the transfer³.

Providers differ in what they will accept. Hargreaves Lansdown says you can transfer all or part of a Junior Cash ISA if the current provider allows it, but you can only transfer an entire Junior Stocks and Shares ISA or Child Trust Fund⁴. AJ Bell states that you can transfer some or all of the money in a cash Junior ISA into a stocks and shares Junior ISA with it¹³. Chorley Building Society sets out that its Junior Cash ISA can be transferred into another provider's Junior Cash ISA or a Stocks and Shares Junior ISA, but that partial transfers can only go into another provider's Stocks and Shares Junior ISA¹⁴. Halifax accepts transfers of a Junior ISA or Child Trust Fund in a branch, and can take the whole or part of a Junior Stocks and Shares ISA held with another provider¹⁵.

Transferring a Child Trust Fund into a Junior ISA

A Child Trust Fund is the predecessor of the Junior ISA, and the two cannot sit side by side. A child cannot have a Child Trust Fund and a Junior ISA of any type at the same time¹⁶. If you want to open a Junior ISA for a child who already has a Child Trust Fund, the trust fund has to be transferred across¹⁷.

The transfer itself works much like a Junior ISA transfer. You will need the details of the current provider and the account number⁸. Because only one Junior cash ISA or Child Trust Fund can be held at a time, the full balance has to be transferred rather than part of it¹⁷. Providers that accept these transfers include Hargreaves Lansdown, which lists Junior ISAs and Child Trust Funds as the products it can receive⁴, and Charles Stanley, which accepts transfers from Junior Cash ISAs, Junior Stocks and Shares ISAs held with other providers, and Child Trust Funds¹⁸.

There is a wrinkle worth knowing about. A Child Trust Fund can be transferred to a Junior ISA, or to an adult account if the child is soon turning 18 or the trust fund has matured¹⁹. But the direction only runs one way: a Child Trust Fund can be moved into a Junior ISA, not the other way round²⁰. If a child has a Child Trust Fund and you want a Junior ISA instead, the trust fund has to go first.

Where a Child Trust Fund has matured and not been claimed, the money does not disappear. HMRC data shows that over 827,000 matured Child Trust Funds, worth £2,310 on average, are yet to be claimed²¹. If you are trying to trace one, the Child Trust Fund guide sets out how they work and how to claim.

Does transferring a Junior ISA affect the child's allowance?

No. A transfer between Junior ISAs is not a new subscription, so it does not use up any of the child's annual Junior ISA allowance. The money simply changes provider.

There is one technical point in the legislation. Where the current year's subscriptions are transferred from one Junior ISA account to another, they count towards the overall subscription limit for the child holding the account for that year². In other words, money paid in during the current tax year and then transferred still counts as having been paid in that year. Previous years' subscriptions carry no such condition, which is why a partial transfer of older money is often the simpler option.

The distinction matters because the allowance is per child, not per account. A child can hold one cash Junior ISA and one stocks and shares Junior ISA, and the allowance is shared across both². Moving money between providers does not create extra allowance, and it does not consume any either.

If you are moving money into a Junior ISA from elsewhere, the Junior ISA allowance page explains how much can be paid in each year, and the ISA transfer rules cover how transfers work across the wider ISA family.

What happens to a Junior ISA at 18

A Junior ISA automatically turns into an adult ISA when the child turns 18¹. Nothing needs to be done to make that happen, and the account does not close. It simply becomes an adult ISA in the young person's name.

At that point the money is theirs to control. When your child turns 18 they can take out any money in their Junior ISAs¹. The account holder can also decide what to do with the money, including moving it to a different adult ISA²². If they want to move it, they will need to complete an ISA application with the new provider²³.

Providers handle the transition in their own way. NS&I states that when the young person is 18, it will transfer the Junior ISA into an adult cash ISA from NS&I¹⁶, and that it will automatically transfer the money from the Junior ISA into an adult cash ISA when the holder reaches 18²⁴. Nottingham Building Society sets out that when the Junior ISA holder turns 18, it automatically becomes a Cash ISA, and at that point it can be transferred to any adult ISA²⁵.

There is one earlier milestone. If the child is 16 or older, they can become the registered contact for their Junior ISAs¹. That gives them control of the account before the money itself becomes theirs at 18.

The page on what happens to a Junior ISA at 18 covers the transition in more detail, including what the young person can do with the money once it is theirs.

Is there a fee to transfer a Junior ISA?

Charges vary by provider, and the fee that matters most is often the one charged by the provider you are leaving rather than the one you are joining. Hargreaves Lansdown states that it is free to transfer to it, but warns savers to check for loss of benefits, guarantees and any exit fees before transferring²⁶. That warning is worth taking at face value: an exit fee, or the loss of a guaranteed rate, can outweigh the benefit of moving.

The receiving provider normally does not charge for a transfer in, because it wants the business. The provider being left may charge an exit fee, and some accounts carry a loss of interest or a closure charge if money leaves before a fixed term ends. Those terms are set out in the account's own documents, so they are worth reading before the transfer form is submitted.

There is also a practical cost that is not a fee at all: time out of the market. A cash Junior ISA transfer moves a balance, so there is nothing to lose. A stocks and shares Junior ISA transfer may involve selling and rebuying investments, and the account can be out of the market while that happens. That is a risk of the process rather than a charge, and it is one reason transfers of invested accounts are sometimes done in specie, meaning the investments themselves move across rather than being sold.

What is a Junior ISA transfer authority form?

The transfer authority form is the document that instructs your current provider to release the account to a new one. It is the formal mechanism that keeps the money inside the Junior ISA wrapper, and it is why a transfer is different from a withdrawal and reinvestment.

The receiving provider normally supplies the form as part of its transfer process. You will need the details of your current provider and the account number⁸. Once completed, the two providers deal with each other, and the balance moves directly.

The legislation places duties on the account manager as well as the saver. An account manager intending to manage a Junior ISA account must undertake to publicise the minimum amount which may be subscribed on a single occasion and the permitted means of payment, and to inform subscribers that the subscription is a gift to the child². That last point is worth remembering: money paid into a Junior ISA belongs to the child, not to the person who paid it in.

If you are managing a Junior ISA for a child who is not your own, or you have been granted formal parental responsibility, there is official guidance on taking over management of a Child Trust Fund or Junior ISA account²⁷.

Where to get help

If a transfer goes wrong, or a provider delays it, the first step is the provider's own complaints process. If that does not resolve it, the Financial Ombudsman Service can look at complaints about ISA providers. The page on complaining about an ISA provider sets out how that works, and the page on compensation for delayed transfers covers what happens when a transfer takes too long.

MoneyHelper offers free, impartial guidance on savings and ISAs, and the government's own guidance on managing a Junior ISA covers the rules on registered contacts and what happens at 18¹. For anyone trying to trace a Child Trust Fund that has matured, the guide to finding a lost Child Trust Fund explains the process.

The wider rules on how ISAs are protected, including the limits of that protection, are set out in the guide to how your ISA is protected.