Guide to ISAs

Instant Cash ISA

You might want to consider opening an Instant Cash ISA to earn tax-free interest on your savings.  Unlike some other accounts, Barclays Instant Cash ISA lets you access your money whenever you need to, giving you control over your annual ISA allowance, which is currently £20,000.

Flexible Cash ISA

A Flexible Cash ISA gives you the benefit of a fixed rate for a set period, which can be great if you have a lump sum of money or want to make regular contributions. The Barclays Flexible Cash ISA could help you by offering the flexibility to access some of your money during the term if you need to.

Investment ISA

If you’re prepared to hold investments for a longer period, and accept that you may get back less than you invest, you might want to consider an Investment ISA. Also known as a stocks and shares ISA, it could help you buy, hold and sell a wide range of investments such as funds, shares and bonds, and protect your returns from tax.

Tax rules can change and their effects on you will depend on your own circumstances. It’s best to seek independent advice if you’re unsure about investing.

Savings accounts and ISAs

We have a range of savings accounts and ISAs you can use to save for a deposit and the other expenses of buying your first home.

The government closed its Help to Buy: ISA scheme to new savers on 30 November 2019. If you opened one with us by then, you can pay in up to £1,200 in the calendar month of your first deposit, and up to £200 in each calendar month after that until November 2029.

For all our ISAs (except Help to Buy: ISA and Flexible Cash ISA - Issues 1 to 9), any money you withdraw within a tax year can be replaced during the same tax year without counting towards your annual ISA allowance. This is known as ISA flexibility.

For example, if you pay in £10,000 to your ISA on 6 April 2023, your remaining allowance for the 2023/2024 ISA allowance would be £15,000.

Remember that money you’ve withdrawn needs to be paid back into the ISA in the same tax year (if you choose to do so). You won’t be able to replace the money the following tax year without it counting towards your ISA allowance. The tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April the following year.

If you’d like to transfer your ISA to a new provider and where you’ve withdrawn previous years’ subscriptions from your ISA, any withdrawals not replaced prior to the transfer can’t be replaced with your new provider without counting towards your annual ISA allowance.

If you’ve made withdrawals and intend to re-subscribe it in the same tax year, you’ll need to ensure the ISA from which you made the withdrawal remains open.

Where you’ve withdrawn current year subscriptions from your ISA, your remaining current year ISA allowance will be transferred to your new provider. Where you’ve withdrawn previous tax year deposits from your ISA, you must replenish these before transferring to a new provider, otherwise you’ll lose them for good. For example, if you subscribed £20,000 in the current tax year, having already subscribed £5,000 in a previous tax year, and you withdrew the full £25,000, you would lose the ability to replenish the £5,000 withdrawn from previous tax years’ subscriptions if you transferred your ISA to another provider without first paying this £5,000 back in.

For example, if on 1 June you subscribe £5,000 and on 1 July you withdraw £2,000, transferring your remaining current year subscriptions of £3,000 to a new provider, your remaining current year ISA allowance with your new provider would be £17,000 (based on 2023/2024 ISA allowance of £20,000).

If you have more than one ISA (cash, investment, innovative finance or lifetime) and you’d like to combine them or you’d like to transfer your money into a new ISA, it’s best to use the ISA Transfer Service to move or combine your savings. However, if you transfer from a Lifetime ISA, it will count as a withdrawal from that account type and the amount you transfer out will be subject to a 25% government charge.

Using the ISA Transfer Service means previous years’ savings you transfer won’t count towards your current annual allowance.

Remember, you can transfer all or just some of your other ISA balances, and you can also transfer between all types of ISA.

Please note that unless transferring in a Help to Buy ISA from another Help to Buy ISA, the receiving Help to Buy: ISA is subject to the monthly Help to Buy: ISA limits of £1,200 in the first calendar month, and up to £200 per calendar month afterwards. After 30 November 2019, you won’t be able to transfer-in a Help to Buy: ISA held elsewhere into Barclays unless you already have a Help to Buy: ISA with us.

Before you transfer, make sure you are aware of any transfer fees from your current provider, other costs that you might incur, disadvantages that you might encounter or any benefits you might lose. Transferring cash or investments held in ISAs won’t affect their tax-efficient status. More about transferring your investments.

How to transfer

Transferring into a cash ISA with us is easy. If you’re registered for Online Banking or the Barclays app, simply log in to complete a transfer form giving us the account details of the other ISA(s) and we’ll do the rest. Alternatively, you can call us on 0345 744 5445¹ or pop into a branch to arrange an ISA transfer.

You can transfer cash and investments held within ISAs elsewhere to a Barclays Investment ISA online. Find out more.

It can take up to 15 working days for any cash ISA transfer-in to be completed, and a bit longer for investments. While the transfer takes place, any money in investment ISAs may not be invested in the stock market.

If I open a cash ISA at the end of one tax year, what happens to the interest in the new tax year?

The interest you earn on your money in a cash ISA remains tax free for the life of the ISA, providing all ISA conditions are met. The rate of the interest paid might change, but it will remain tax free. However, the government may change the ISA rules in the future.

If I transfer my previous years’ deposits into a new ISA, does it count towards my current tax year ISA allowance?

No, it doesn’t. You are free to transfer previous years’ ISA funds into a new cash or investment ISA and this won’t count towards the current year’s allowance. For example, if you have £18,000 in previous ISAs, you can transfer the balance into your new ISA and still have your £20,000 allowance for the current tax year. The interest on the combined balance will also be tax free. Remember to complete a transfer form, which you can do in branch, over the phone or by logging into Online Banking.

What happens if I inherit an ISA allowance from a spouse or civil partner?

You can receive certain ISA benefits that your spouse or civil partner had built up in any ISAs they had, if they passed away on or after 3 December 2014. This is known as an “Additional Permitted Subscription (APS) allowance” and must be used within 3 years from the date of death.

Is the money held in my Barclays ISAs protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme?

For money held in cash ISAs, your eligible deposits with Barclays Bank UK PLC are protected up to a total of £85,000 by the FSCS – the UK's deposit guarantee scheme. This total covers all of your accounts held with Barclays Bank UK PLC, not just your cash ISAs. If the total value of all your individual deposits held with Barclays Bank UK PLC is above the £85,000 coverage limit, you will only be covered on amounts up to £85,000.

For money held in an Investment ISA, your eligible deposits are held with Barclays Investment Solutions Limited (BISL) and are covered by the FSCS up to the first £50,000.