Technical consultation opens on draft ISA Amendment Regulations 2026

HM Revenue & Customs opened a technical consultation at 9:30am on 25 June 2026 on draft legislation that would set the annual Cash ISA subscription limit for investors below the age of 65 at £12,000 from 6 April 2027¹. The consultation closes at 11:59pm on 2 August 2026¹. The page was published on 16 July 2026 and is now marked as a closed consultation, with HMRC stating: "We are analysing your feedback"¹.

The draft regulations amend the Individual Savings Account Regulations 1998¹. Under the proposals, the annual Cash ISA limit for investors aged 65 or over would remain at £20,000¹. The £12,000 figure applies to the Cash ISA subscription limit specifically, not to the overall ISA allowance, which is not addressed in the consultation description¹.

To prevent the new limit being circumvented, the draft legislation also contains three further measures¹:

Measure	Effect under the draft regulations
Transfers into a Cash ISA	Transfers from a stocks and shares ISA or innovative finance ISA to a Cash ISA are prohibited where the account holder is below the age of 65
"Cash like" investments	The regulations define investments deemed to be "cash like" and provide restrictions on their holding
Interest on cash in a S&S ISA or IF ISA	A charge is introduced on any interest paid on cash held in those accounts

"A technical consultation is taking place on draft legislation which will deliver the Government's decision to set the annual Cash ISA subscription limit for investors below the age of 65 at £12,000 from 6th April 2027. For investors aged 65 or over the annual Cash ISA limit will remain at £20,000."

HM Revenue & Customs, The Individual Savings Account (Amendment) Regulations 2026¹

HMRC says the consultation is of interest to savers with Individual Savings Accounts and to financial institutions that provide or manage these accounts or investments¹. The draft legislation runs to six pages and is available as a PDF, with an accessible HTML version also published¹. The consultation page does not state when the outcome will be published, and no date for a response has been reported¹.

Why it matters for households

The change, if made in the form consulted on, would apply from 6 April 2027¹. From that date, savers under 65 would be able to put up to £12,000 a year into a Cash ISA, while those aged 65 or over would keep a £20,000 Cash ISA limit¹. The restriction is drawn by age at the point of subscription, so a saver's position would depend on whether they are below or aged 65 or over¹.

Two of the accompanying measures affect existing holdings rather than only new subscriptions. Under the draft regulations, an under-65 account holder could not move money from a stocks and shares ISA or innovative finance ISA into a Cash ISA¹. The draft also introduces a charge on interest paid on cash held inside a stocks and shares ISA or an innovative finance ISA, and places restrictions on investments defined as "cash like"¹. The consultation description does not set out the rate of that charge or the detail of the restrictions¹.

The annual ISA allowance as a whole is not covered by the consultation description, which addresses the Cash ISA subscription limit only¹. The consultation page does not say how the £12,000 limit would interact with the existing overall allowance, and that has not been reported¹.

What happens next

The consultation closed at 11:59pm on 2 August 2026¹. HMRC says it is analysing the feedback and that the outcome will be available to download from the consultation page¹. No date has been given for publication of the response, and no date has been reported for when the draft regulations would be laid or debated¹. The £12,000 limit and the related measures are proposals in draft form and would take effect from 6 April 2027 if made¹. Further detail on the proposed changes to the cash ISA limit is set out in the draft legislation published alongside the consultation¹.

Sources1 cited