How Many Cash ISAs Can I Have?

An Individual Savings Account (ISA) is a tax-advantaged savings vehicle in the United Kingdom, allowing individuals to save or invest without paying UK tax on returns. A Cash ISA functions like a traditional savings account, with interest entirely free from UK income tax. This tax-free benefit allows savers to keep more of their earnings. While you can hold many Cash ISAs, rules for new account contributions in any tax year are specific.

Annual ISA Allowance and Contribution Rules

The UK government sets an annual ISA allowance, the maximum an individual can save or invest across all ISA types in a single tax year. For 2025/26, this allowance is £20,000. Contributions to a Cash ISA count towards this limit. For example, depositing £10,000 into a Cash ISA leaves £10,000 of your allowance for other ISA types or another Cash ISA within the same tax year.

This allowance can be split across different ISA types, including Cash ISAs, Stocks and Shares ISAs, Innovative Finance ISAs, and Lifetime ISAs. The Lifetime ISA has a specific annual contribution limit of £4,000, which is part of the overall £20,000 allowance. The annual allowance resets at the beginning of each tax year; unused allowance from a previous year cannot be carried forward.

Rules for Opening New Cash ISAs

The UK tax year begins on April 6th and ends on April 5th of the following calendar year. Historically, individuals could only contribute to one Cash ISA in any single tax year. However, changes in April 2024 permit individuals to open and contribute to multiple ISAs of the same type, including multiple Cash ISAs, within the same tax year. You can open a Cash ISA with one provider and another with a different provider, provided total contributions do not exceed the annual allowance.

While the rule allows for multiple Cash ISAs to be opened and funded in a single tax year, some financial institutions may impose their own restrictions, allowing customers to open only one Cash ISA with their institution per tax year. The minimum age for an adult Cash ISA is 18 years old. You can maintain multiple Cash ISAs opened in previous tax years, which is distinct from contributing to new ones.

Handling Multiple Cash ISAs and Transfers

You can hold numerous Cash ISAs opened in different tax years. This means a saver could have an ISA from 2023/24, another from 2024/25, and a new one for 2025/26. This allows for long-term tax-free savings accumulation.

Transferring funds between Cash ISAs is a common practice that enables savers to consolidate their savings or move funds to accounts offering better interest rates without losing tax-free status. To maintain the tax-free wrapper, use the official ISA transfer process, which is typically initiated by the new ISA provider. Directly withdrawing money from an ISA and then re-depositing it into a new account will result in the loss of tax-free benefits for that amount, and the funds will count against the current tax year’s allowance.

When transferring funds, the rules vary depending on when the money was contributed. For money paid into an ISA during the current tax year, the entire amount must be transferred. For funds contributed in previous tax years, you have the flexibility to transfer either all or just a portion. Transfers between Cash ISAs are processed within 15 working days.