How many ISAs can I have?

How many ISA accounts can I have?

Despite ISAs being around for over 25 years, there remains much confusion among consumers around what they can and cannot do with them.  

In most circumstances, you can have as many ISAs as you like. That said, there are restrictions around the amounts you can contribute to certain ISA types for each tax year, which is perhaps where the misunderstanding happens. 

Furthermore, there are new ISA transfer rules set to come into effect for the 2027/28 tax year that will without doubt increase the complexity.  

What are the main ISA rules?

ISAs might seem complicated, but the basic concept is straightforward. An ISA – or individual savings account – is simply an account where you can save or invest in a tax efficient way. No capital gains tax or income tax is payable, both within the ISA “wrapper” and once you withdraw from it.  

As well as the benefit of not having to pay tax on returns from growth, income, or interest, an ISA brings simplicity when it comes to reporting to HMRC. It’s the main reason why almost everyone should generally prioritise a tax-efficient ISA for their savings or investments. 

Each tax year, your ISA allowance is reset. The allowance is the maximum you can add. For the 2026/27 tax year, from 6th April 2026 to 5th April 2027, the allowance is £20,000 which is unchanged from the previous tax year. 

What you do with your allowance is up to you. Whether you want to invest the entire allowance into one type of ISA, or whether you want to split it between different types.  The two main ones being the Cash ISA and Stocks & Shares ISA. If you don't use your full allowance before the end of each tax year, you'll lose the remainder. But you do get a brand new allowance in the following tax year. 

Currently, the main types of ISAs are quite flexible. You’re able to transfer a Cash ISA to a Stocks & Shares ISA and vice-versa. However, from April 2027, the rules are set to change. Alongside a new lower annual ISA allowance for adding money to a Cash ISA of £12,000 (for those under age 65) as part of the overall £20,000, the new rules propose that transferring an ISA from Stocks & Shares to cash ISA will be prohibited to prevent people getting around the lower cash limit. 

How many Stocks & Shares ISAs can I have?

Many people only open a Stocks & Shares ISA with a single provider. However, it’s possible to have as many different Stocks & Shares ISAs for long-term investments as you like – with some exceptions. 

Before April 2024, ISA savers and investors could only pay money into a single cash ISA and a single Stocks & Shares ISA each tax year. Once the new tax year began, they were free to choose a different provider for their contributions. 

However, a rule change from the 2024/25 tax year means you can now use different ISA providers in the same tax year. However, the new rules are voluntary for providers, so in many circumstances you’ll still be restricted to having just one ISA provider for any new contributions. 

How many Cash ISAs can I have? 

 

As mentioned, not all ISA providers have adopted the recent relaxation of allowing you to open multiple ISAs of the same type for new contributions, and that’s often the case for Cash ISAs. You may find that your bank or building society doesn’t permit you to open a Cash ISA elsewhere in the same tax year after you have contributed to theirs. 

However, you’ll always be free to choose a different provider for the following tax year. 

It’s important to point out that the new ISA rules around multiple providers in the same tax year don’t cover lifetime ISAs – either cash or stocks & shares. With these products you’re still always limited to putting money with a single provider per tax year. 

How many Junior ISAs can you have? 

You can split the annual Junior ISA (JISA) allowance between cash JISAs and Stocks & Shares JISAs for a child. So, you can put it all in cash or all in the stock market, or any mix of the two – just like adult ISAs. 

However, the flexibility of using multiple providers for ISAs doesn’t extend to JISAs, even for different tax years. Your child can only hold a cash JISA with one provider, and they can only hold stock market investments with a single Stocks & Shares JISA provider. As with ISAs, it’s possible to transfer to another provider, but you must transfer the entire amount. 

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