DOWNLOAD: Making the most of ISAs

UPDATED: January 2026
AN INTRODUCTION TO ISAs

Individual Savings Accounts, universally known as ISAs, began as relatively simple savings plans 26 years ago, but since then the rules surrounding them have become ever more complex and, following the Autumn 2025 Budget, will yet become more so.

Rachel Reeves already announced in the Autumn Budget 2024 that she would freeze ISA subscription limits at their current levels through to 2029/30 (now extended to 2030/31). Five months later, in her Spring Statement, she suggested she was looking at options to “get the balance right between cash and equities” in ISAs. Her conclusions emerged in the Autumn Budget 2025 and will mean new restrictions on cash ISAs for the under-65s and the replacement of Lifetime ISAs (LISAs) with a new Help to Buy ISA in 2026.

The government’s website says there are currently only four categories of ISA – cash ISAs, stocks and shares ISAs, innovative finance ISAs, and (short-lived) LISAs – but variants exist for specific investment needs.

This guide will explain how the main variants work, in order of their original launch date.

Please note that all examples included in this guide are fictitious.

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