Junior ISAs Explained: 2026/27 Guide

By Tom Ashby, Editor · Updated 10 October 2026

7 min read · Facts checked against official sources on 10 October 2026

In short

A Junior ISA is a tax-free account for a child under 18 living in the UK. Up to £9,000 can go in during 2026/27.
A child can have one cash Junior ISA and one stocks and shares Junior ISA. The £9,000 covers both.
A parent or guardian opens it, but anyone can pay in, and the money belongs to the child.
The child can manage it from 16 and take the money out from 18, when it becomes an adult ISA.
Unlike other children's savings, money from parents in a Junior ISA isn't caught by the £100 interest rule.

Junior ISA limit per child, 2026/27: £9,000
Limit frozen until April of this year: 2031
Age the child can take the money out: 18
Unclaimed matured Child Trust Funds (HMRC, 2026): 827,000

On this page

How does a Junior ISA work?
Who can pay into a Junior ISA?
Cash or stocks and shares Junior ISA?
What happens when the child turns 16?
What happens at 18?
Can you take money out of a Junior ISA early?
Why use a Junior ISA instead of a children’s savings account?
Does the 2027 cash ISA change affect Junior ISAs?
Junior ISAs and Child Trust Funds
How do you move a Junior ISA to another provider?
Junior ISA or a pension for your child?
What to check before opening a Junior ISA
Related guides
Sources

A Junior ISA is a tax-free savings or investment account for a child. Parents, grandparents and anyone else can pay in, up to £9,000 a year in 2026/27, and there’s no tax on the interest or investment growth. The catch, and for many families the point, is that the money belongs to the child and is locked away until they turn 18. This guide explains how Junior ISAs work, the choice between cash and investments, and what happens when the child grows up.

How does a Junior ISA work?

Rule	Junior ISA, 2026/27
Who can have one	A child under 18 living in the UK
Yearly limit	£9,000 in total across all the child’s Junior ISAs
Types	Cash, stocks and shares, or one of each
Who opens it	A parent or guardian with parental responsibility (or the child, from 16)
Who can pay in	Anyone
Withdrawals	Not until 18, except if the child is terminally ill or dies
Tax	No tax on interest, dividends or gains

The £9,000 limit is separate from your own £20,000 ISA allowance. HMRC has confirmed it stays at £9,000 until April 2031. Any allowance not used by 5 April is lost.

Children living abroad usually can’t have one. The exception is a child who depends on a parent serving overseas as a Crown servant, such as in the armed forces or the diplomatic service.

Who can pay into a Junior ISA?

Anyone can pay in: parents, grandparents, other relatives and family friends. All the payments count towards the child’s single £9,000 limit for the year, so it’s worth agreeing between you who pays what if several people contribute. Once money is in, it belongs to the child and the person who paid it in can’t take it back.

Example (from GOV.UK): if £2,000 is paid into a child’s cash Junior ISA in 2026/27, only £7,000 more can be paid into their stocks and shares Junior ISA that year.

Cash or stocks and shares Junior ISA?

A child can have one cash Junior ISA and one stocks and shares Junior ISA at the same time, and split the £9,000 between them.

A cash Junior ISA pays interest, and its balance doesn’t fall with markets.
A stocks and shares Junior ISA invests in funds, shares and other investments. Its value can rise and fall, and it could end up worth less than was paid in.

A Junior ISA opened for a newborn can’t be touched for 18 years. That long timescale is why many parents choose to invest: MoneyHelper frames investing around goals more than five years away. But if the child will need the money soon after 18, for example for university costs, it may make sense to move towards cash in the final few years. HMRC’s latest figures show that in 2024/25 about 1.6 million Junior ISAs received payments, totalling £2.5 billion. Around 38% of that went into cash.

If a provider fails, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme protects cash up to £120,000 per person, per bank, and investments up to £85,000 per person, per firm. It doesn’t cover investments falling in value.

What happens when the child turns 16?

At 16 your child can take over the day-to-day running of their Junior ISA by becoming the account’s registered contact, and they don’t need the parent’s agreement to do so. Children aged 16 or 17 can also open a Junior ISA themselves. They still can’t take money out until 18.

Since April 2024, 16 and 17-year-olds can no longer open an adult cash ISA, so a Junior ISA is the only ISA available to them.

What happens at 18?

On the child’s 18th birthday, the Junior ISA automatically becomes an adult ISA in their name. They can then take the money out and spend it on whatever they choose, or leave it where it is. Nobody else can stop them, because the money is theirs. If they leave it in the ISA, it stays tax-free.

That’s worth thinking about early. If you’d rather the money was used for something specific, such as a house deposit, talking to your child about it before 18 is the only real control you have.

Can you take money out of a Junior ISA early?

Only in two situations:

If the child is terminally ill, which GOV.UK defines as not expected to live more than six months. The registered contact applies to HMRC using the terminal illness early access form.
If the child dies. The money goes to whoever inherits the child’s estate. You tell the provider, who may ask for a death certificate.

Otherwise, the money stays in the account until 18. Junior ISAs can’t be flexible, so you can’t withdraw and replace money as you can with some adult ISAs.

Why use a Junior ISA instead of a children’s savings account?

The main difference is tax. If a child earns more than £100 a year in interest from money given by a parent, the parent may have to pay tax on all of that interest. This rule doesn’t apply to money in a Junior ISA or Child Trust Fund, or to money given by grandparents, relatives or friends.

So for parents saving larger amounts, a Junior ISA keeps the interest and growth tax-free without the £100 limit. The trade-off is access: a children’s savings account can usually be used before 18, while a Junior ISA can’t.

Does the 2027 cash ISA change affect Junior ISAs?

No. The £12,000 cash ISA limit for under-65s from 6 April 2027 applies to adult ISAs. The regulations, laid before Parliament on 14 September 2026, leave the Junior ISA limit unchanged, and HMRC has confirmed the new rules on money market funds won’t apply to Junior ISAs.

Junior ISAs and Child Trust Funds

Child Trust Funds (CTFs) were the scheme before Junior ISAs, for children born between 1 September 2002 and 2 January 2011. A child can’t have both, but you can transfer a CTF into a Junior ISA. The whole fund has to move, and once it’s in a Junior ISA it can’t go back.

Many CTFs have been forgotten. HMRC said in September 2026 that around 827,000 matured CTFs were still unclaimed, with an average value of £2,310. Anyone aged 16 or over can use HMRC’s free online tool to find their own CTF, and parents can search for a child under 18. You’ll need a National Insurance number. You don’t need to pay anyone to find a CTF for you.

When a CTF matures at 18, no more money can be paid in. The money stays in a protected account until the young person takes it out or moves it to an adult ISA.

How do you move a Junior ISA to another provider?

Only the registered contact can switch provider. Contact the new provider, who arranges the transfer. Under HMRC’s rules:

money from previous tax years can be moved in full or in part
money paid in during the current tax year must be moved in full, unless part of it is going to the other type of Junior ISA
transfers should take no more than 30 days

Don’t take the money out yourself: Junior ISA money can’t be withdrawn before 18 in any case.

Junior ISA or a pension for your child?

You can also set up a pension for a child. Up to £2,880 a year can be paid in, which becomes £3,600 with basic-rate tax relief, even though the child has no earnings. The difference is access: a pension is locked until the minimum pension age, which rises to 57 from 2028 and may rise further, while a Junior ISA can be used from 18. Some families use both for different goals. Our guide to SIPPs explains how children’s pensions work.

What to check before opening a Junior ISA

Cash or investments, given how many years are left until 18.
Charges. For a stocks and shares Junior ISA, check the platform fee and fund charges; a flat fee takes a bigger share of a small pot. Our platform fees guide explains what to compare.
Interest rate, for a cash Junior ISA, and whether it’s fixed or variable.
Whether your child already has a Child Trust Fund, which would need transferring first.
Who else wants to contribute, so payments stay within £9,000.

Sources

Our guides are general information and education, not personal financial advice. If you are unsure whether an investment is right for you, speak to a regulated financial adviser. Capital at risk. Investments can fall as well as rise, and you may get back less than you put in.