How long does an ISA transfer take?

A cash ISA transfer normally takes up to 15 working days, counted from the day your existing provider receives the request. A stocks and shares ISA transfer normally takes up to 30 calendar days, because the investments usually have to be sold before the money can move. Those two figures are the ones providers publish, and they are the deadlines the industry works to.

The clock does not start when you fill in the form. It starts when the provider you are leaving receives the transfer request from the provider you are joining, so the days you spend choosing an account and completing an application sit outside the timescale. In practice most cash transfers finish sooner than the limit, and some investment transfers run past it.

This page sets out what each type of transfer involves, why moving investments takes longer than moving cash, what providers quote for transfers in, how to move an ISA without losing its tax-free status, and what to do if a transfer runs late.

Cash ISA transfers: up to 15 working days

The 15 working day limit is the standard figure across the cash ISA market. Building societies and banks state it in almost identical terms: transfers "typically take up to 15 working days"⁶, "should take no longer than 15 working days"⁷, and providers "have 15 working days to transfer Cash ISAs"⁸. One provider's key document puts it as a rule rather than a habit, saying that "Under the ISA Regulations, it can take up to 15 working days to complete your request to transfer your Cash ISA"⁹.

A working day here means any day that is not a Saturday, Sunday or bank holiday, so three calendar weeks is the rough equivalent¹⁰. Some providers quote a shorter typical experience inside that ceiling. Shawbrook says cash ISA transfers "typically take 4 to 5 working days but can take up to 15 working days"¹¹, and Virgin Money's terms say transfers "normally take between five to 15 working days to complete"¹². The 15 day figure is a deadline, not a prediction.

The clock starts when your existing provider receives the request, not when you post it or submit it online. Principality states the timescale runs "from when your current provider receives the request"¹³, and Nationwide says a cash ISA transfer to another provider "will take up to 15 working days once we receive your request"¹⁴. That distinction matters if you are transferring near a deadline, because the days your new provider spends processing your application are not counted.

Stocks and shares ISA transfers: up to 30 calendar days

Investment ISA transfers work to a longer limit: 30 calendar days. Leeds Building Society sets out both figures in one line, saying transfers "can take up to 15 working days for cash ISAs and 30 calendar days for stocks and shares ISAs"², and Which? reports that "it shouldn't take more than 30 calendar days to move a stocks and shares Isa to another provider"¹⁵. The same 30 day figure appears in the terms of high street banks and platforms alike¹⁶.

Note the unit change. Cash ISAs are measured in working days, investment ISAs in calendar days, so a 30 calendar day limit is shorter in practice than 30 working days would be. It is also a guideline rather than a hard rule in the way the cash ISA deadline is, and providers are candid that it can be missed. Hargreaves Lansdown tells customers that "In most cases, transfers take 2 to 6 weeks; however, some can take longer"¹⁸, and Triodos quotes a range of "between 14-30 days"¹⁹.

The reason for the longer window is that investments are not cash. Holdings usually have to be sold, the proceeds have to settle, and only then can the money be sent to the new provider, which then buys investments again if you want to stay invested. Each of those steps takes days, and the number of holdings, the type of fund and the platform's own processes all affect how many.

Cash transfer or moving investments: why it changes the timescale

The single biggest factor in how long a transfer takes is whether anything has to be sold. A cash ISA holds money, so the transfer is a payment between two institutions. An investment ISA holds assets, so the transfer is a sale, a settlement and a repurchase, and each stage has its own processing time.

interactive investor sets out the difference plainly: "Typically, it takes up to four weeks to transfer an ISA as a cash payment", while "If you wish to transfer existing investments, it typically takes around six weeks for your transfer to be completed"⁴. That six week figure sits well beyond the 30 calendar day guideline, which shows how much the underlying investments matter.

Some transfers avoid the sale altogether. Where the same investments are available on both platforms, they can sometimes be moved across in specie, meaning the holdings transfer without being sold. That avoids time out of the market but depends on both providers supporting the same funds, and it does not shorten the administrative work. Where a fund is not available on the receiving platform, it has to be sold, and the cash transferred instead.

Moving between cash and stocks and shares ISAs

Not every combination of ISA is allowed, and the rules shape what a transfer can look like. Government statistics set out the position: "funds invested in a stocks and shares ISA can only be transferred to another stocks and shares ISA; however, funds invested in a cash ISA can be transferred to a stocks and shares ISA or another cash ISA"⁵.

In other words, cash can move in either direction, but investments cannot be turned into cash ISA money by transferring. If you hold a stocks and shares ISA and want the money in a cash ISA, the investments have to be sold first, and the resulting cash moved. That is why providers quote the longer timescale for this route. Newcastle Building Society says that once investments have been sold, "the transfer should be complete within 30 days"²⁰, and Virgin Money's terms warn that "transferring a stocks and shares ISA to a Cash ISA with us may take longer and could take up to 30 days"¹².

Going the other way, from cash into investments, is administratively simpler because there is nothing to sell, but it still runs to the investment timescale. Tesco Bank quotes "around 30 days" for cash to stocks and shares ISA transfers¹, and TSB gives the same pair of figures: "Cash ISAs can take around 15 days. Stocks and Shares ISA will take around 30 days"²¹.

What providers quote for transfers in

Providers publish their own transfer-in timescales, and they cluster tightly around the two standard figures. The table below shows what a range of firms state, which is useful if you are choosing where to move to and want a realistic idea of the wait.

The pattern is consistent: cash transfers are quoted in working days and investment transfers in calendar days, and the investment figures carry more caveats. Where a provider gives a range rather than a limit, the range reflects how much the underlying holdings vary rather than any difference in the provider's own processing.

How to transfer an ISA without losing the tax-free status

The safe route is a formal transfer, arranged between the two providers. You apply to the provider you want to move to, it sends the request to your existing provider, and the money moves directly between them. Because it never passes through your hands, it is not treated as a withdrawal and a fresh subscription, and it uses none of your annual allowance⁵.

Doing it yourself breaks that chain. If you withdraw the money and pay it into a different ISA, the payment counts as a new subscription against the current year's allowance, and anything above the allowance loses its tax-free wrapper. Unused allowance cannot be carried into the next tax year, and it resets every 6 April²⁷. The exception is a flexible ISA, where money taken out and replaced in the same tax year does not count as a new subscription, but that only helps if the receiving account is flexible too.

There is also a deadline that applies to the transfer itself. Legislation provides that "ISAs lose their tax advantaged status if they are not transferred within 30 days of the investor receiving notice from the ISA manager"²⁸. In practice this concerns the paperwork around a transfer rather than the everyday process, but it is a reminder that a transfer left half finished can put the tax-free status at risk.

Does a Lifetime ISA transfer take longer than a cash ISA transfer?

Yes, on the published expectation. Government policy set out that "Individuals will be able to transfer their Lifetime ISA within 30 days between providers"²⁹, and the technical note behind it states that "An account must be transferred within 30 days of an account holder's request"³. That is longer than the 15 working day cash ISA deadline, and it reflects the fact that a Lifetime ISA can hold either cash or investments.

The bigger issue with a Lifetime ISA is not the timescale but the charge. Withdrawing money or transferring the Lifetime ISA to another type of ISA before age 60 triggers a 25% charge³⁰. That means a Lifetime ISA transfer is normally made to another Lifetime ISA, keeping the wrapper intact, rather than cashed in and moved elsewhere. The same charge applies if you move money from a Lifetime ISA into a Help to Buy ISA, though transfers in the other direction, from a Help to Buy ISA into a Lifetime ISA, are allowed³⁰.

If you are moving a Lifetime ISA, the receiving provider needs to offer one, and the transfer follows the same apply-to-the-new-provider route as any other ISA. The 30 day expectation applies to the transfer between providers, not to any decision about what to do with the money afterwards.

When a transfer runs late and where to complain

A transfer that misses its deadline is a service failure, and you can complain about it. Start with the provider you are leaving, since it holds the deadline, or the provider you applied to if the delay is on its side. Both are covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service if the complaint is not resolved.

Which? has reported on what happens when a stocks and shares ISA transfer goes wrong, including cases where transfers drag on well beyond the 30 calendar day guideline³¹. The pattern in delayed transfers is usually a missing piece of paperwork, a fund that cannot be moved in specie, or a mismatch between what the two providers hold on file about you.

Keep a record of when you submitted the application and when each provider acknowledged it, because the deadline runs from the moment the old provider receives the request. If a provider has quoted a shorter timescale than the standard one, that quote is part of what you can hold it to. Our page on compensation if an ISA transfer is delayed covers what redress looks like, and complaining about an ISA provider sets out the process step by step.