Compensation if my ISA transfer is delayed

A cash ISA transfer should take no longer than 15 working days, counted from the moment your old provider receives the request¹. That is the figure providers themselves publish, and it is the yardstick to measure a delay against. Several describe five to 15 working days as the normal range, and one says transfers typically take four to five working days but can run to the full 15³.

If it runs past that, the first thing to establish is why. A transfer that is slow because your old account has a notice period is not the same as one that is slow because a form was lost. The second is a service failure you can complain about and, in some circumstances, recover costs from. The first is a term of the account you agreed to.

What you can recover is narrower than people expect. There is no automatic payout for a late ISA transfer. What the rules and the ombudsman provide for is putting you back where you would have been: interest you lost, fees you were charged, and in some cases a payment for the distress and inconvenience of a badly handled complaint.

Cash ISA transfers should take up to 15 working days

The 15 working day figure is not a legal deadline written into the ISA rules in so many words, but it is the standard the industry publishes and the one a complaint will be judged against. One provider's key facts document puts it plainly: "Under the ISA Regulations, it can take up to 15 working days to complete your request to transfer your Cash ISA"⁹. Another states that "ISA providers have 15 working days to transfer Cash ISAs"¹⁰.

The clock starts when your old provider receives the transfer request, not when you post the form or fill in the online application¹¹. That distinction matters, because the receiving provider has to send the request on before the count begins, and any time it sits in an internal queue is time you are not yet counting.

In practice the range is wider than the headline. One provider says cash ISA transfers "normally take between five to 15 working days to complete"³. Another says they "typically take 4 to 5 working days but can take up to 15 working days"⁴. A third gives a longer outer edge for investment transfers: up to 30 days for a stocks and shares ISA moving to a cash ISA⁵.

What counts as a delayed ISA transfer

A transfer is late when it passes 15 working days from the old provider receiving the request without completing. That is the straightforward case. The harder question is what counts as a delay when the timeline was never going to be 15 days in the first place.

Stocks and shares ISA transfers are given longer. One provider says transfers "can take up to 15 working days for cash ISAs and 30 calendar days for stocks and shares ISAs"⁶. Another puts the split at up to 14 days for a cash ISA and up to 30 days for a stocks and shares ISA¹². A third describes up to four weeks for a cash transfer and around six weeks where existing investments have to be sold and moved¹³.

There is also a documented history of transfers going badly wrong. Reporting on the problem describes delays "as extreme as 450 days" in the worst cases, which shows how far past the guideline a transfer can drift when a provider loses track of it¹⁵.

The practical test is whether the provider did what it said it would do, within the window it publishes. If a provider told you 15 working days and took 40, that is a delay regardless of what caused it. If it told you the account had a notice period and the transfer waited for that notice, the timeline was disclosed and the wait is a term of the product.

Why ISA transfers get delayed: forms, notice periods and restrictions

Most delays come from a short list of causes. One provider sets them out directly: "Delays can be caused if there's an issue with the application form or the existing ISA provider doesn't have your up-to-date information, or if there's a notice period on the account you're transferring from"¹⁶.

Notice periods are the most common and the most misunderstood. If the ISA you are leaving requires notice before money can be released, the transfer cannot complete until that notice is served. One provider explains the mechanics: "Your transfer may be delayed because your existing ISA has a notice period or restriction. Your current provider will let us know when it will be free to move to us, and we'll pay interest from that date"¹⁷. That last clause is the important one. Interest starts from the date the money becomes free to move, not from the date you applied.

Some accounts impose a hard deadline on the receiving side too. One notice cash ISA requires that "Any ISA transfer funds must be received within 21 calendar days of us accepting your transfer request"¹⁸. Miss that window and the transfer may have to start again.

Other causes are administrative. A mismatch between the name on the application and the name on the old account, an out-of-date address, or a missing signature will all stop a transfer. One provider's process notes that the old provider should contact the customer if a delay is foreseen, with an explanation and a likely timescale, once the transfer passes seven business days¹⁹.

Interest and compensation when a transfer runs late

There is no fixed compensation figure for a late ISA transfer. What exists is a right to be put back in the position you would have been in, and that right is stronger than many people realise.

The Payment Services (Amendment) Regulations 2024 changed the liability rules. Under the new regulation, "a payment service provider is liable to its payment service user for any charges for which the payment service user is responsible and any interest the user must pay, as a consequence of a delay"²⁰. The accompanying explanatory note is clearer still: "the payment service provider will be liable for any such costs, regardless of whether the payment order was ultimately executed"²³. In other words, if a delay leaves you paying interest or fees, the provider responsible for the delay covers them, even if the payment eventually goes through.

The same regulations add a notification duty. Where a delay occurs, "the payer's payment service provider must notify the payer of the fact of the delay, the reasons for it, and any information or action required of the payer", and must do so by the end of the business day following receipt of the payment order²¹. If you were not told, that is itself a failure.

Consumer guidance on bank delays states the principle in plain terms: "If the delay means you have to pay any money in interest or for fees, your bank will pay you back"²⁴.

Beyond costs, the Financial Ombudsman Service can order a payment for the trouble. It has said it "may tell your insurer to pay you compensation to reflect the distress and inconvenience you've suffered" where a claim was unnecessarily delayed²⁵, and in a breakdown cover case it said it "may tell your provider to pay you compensation" if there was an unreasonable delay²⁶. The same approach applies to ISA complaints. Where an administrative error meant pension payments arrived late, the Ombudsman said it "might tell them to pay you the missed payments, plus interest up to the date of payment"²⁷.

How to complain about a delayed ISA transfer

Complain to the firm first. The Ombudsman will not take a case until you have. If they don't send you a final response letter within eight weeks, or you're unhappy with their response, you can bring the complaint to us"²⁸.

Which firm? The receiving provider runs the process and is the natural first point of contact, because it holds the paperwork and can see where the transfer has stalled. But the old provider holds the money and releases it, and if it sat on the request, the complaint belongs there. Consumer guidance on stocks and shares ISA transfers says "you can complain to your old provider, and then to the Financial Ombudsman Service if you're not happy with their response or haven't received one within around eight weeks"³⁰.

1. Complain in writing to the provider you believe caused the delay, setting out the dates and what you were told.
2. Ask for the interest or charges you lost to be made good, with figures.
3. Wait for the final response. The firm has eight weeks.
4. If eight weeks pass with no final response, or you are unhappy with it, take the case to the Financial Ombudsman Service using its complaint form²⁹.
5. The case is assigned to a case handler, who may ask for more information¹⁴.

The Ombudsman handles ISA complaints directly. Its guidance confirms that "you can bring a complaint about your individual savings account (ISA) to us"⁷, and that it can look at cases where "you lost money because your adviser or investment company made an admin error or delayed a transfer or payment into your ISA account"⁷.

One practical warning: complaints take longer when information is missing. The Ombudsman has said that where key information arrives late or has to be chased, "complaints take over three weeks longer, on average, to reach a first assessment"³¹. Sending everything with the first complaint saves time later.

Where protection applies while the money is moving

Your money does not lose its protection just because it is in transit. While it sits with a UK-authorised bank or building society it is covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, and the deposit limit rose from £85,000 to £120,000 in June 2026⁸. One provider states its cash ISA carries "FSCS protection up to £120,000"³².

The limit is per person, per authorised firm, not per account. If your old ISA and your new ISA are with two brands that share one banking licence, the money counts together towards a single limit, and the transfer does not create a second one. That is worth checking before you move a large balance.

The FSCS also covers costs in some failure scenarios. In the Dolfin case, it confirmed that "FSCS would cover the costs deducted by the JSAs for distributing client money from the client money pool" in most cases. Where a firm holds client money, that money is covered if the firm cannot meet its obligations.

What protection does not do is pay you for inconvenience. The FSCS exists to return your money when a firm fails, not to compensate for a slow transfer. That is the Ombudsman's role, and it is a separate route.

If you want to understand how the transfer process itself works before you start, how to transfer an ISA sets out the steps, and how long does an ISA transfer take? covers the timelines in more detail. If you are weighing up whether to transfer at all, transfer an ISA or withdraw and reinvest? explains why withdrawing the money yourself can cost you the tax wrapper. And if a provider has failed outright, how your ISA is protected explains what happens next.