If you’re looking to open another ISA soon, you may be hesitant about the rules around how many you can have. Because when it comes to ISAs (Individual Savings Accounts), it used to be that you could only pay into one of each ISA type every tax year — although there wasn't a limit on the number you could actually have.
But the ISA rules changed from 6th April 2024, and you can now open and pay into as many ISAs as you want each tax year — even if they're the same type (although this doesn't apply to Lifetime ISAs or Junior ISAs, but we’ll cover those later).
This means you now have far more flexibility with the saving and investing you do within an ISA. That said, there are still some rules and considerations for each type to be mindful of.
Jump straight to:
- How much can you pay into an ISA each year?
- How many ISAs can I open in a year?
- Does transferring an ISA count as opening a new one?
- Keeping track of your ISA allowance
- Multiple ISAs for your financial goals
How much can you pay into an ISA each year?
The current ISA allowance is £20,000 per tax year (April 6th to the following April 5th). This tax-free allowance is for all your ISAs, not per ISA. So, if you had one of each type of ISA (as an example), your £20,000 could be spread across all of them. The same rule applies if you hold multiple of the same type of ISAs.
Examples of how to use your ISA allowance
In the 2025/26 tax year:
- You could choose to put your full allowance of £20,000 into one Stocks and Shares ISA.
- Alternatively, you could split the allowance up, putting £4,000 in a Lifetime ISA*, £6,000 in a Cash ISA, £2,000 in an Innovative Finance ISA, and £8,000 into a Stocks and Shares ISA.
*You can choose to split this however you want, the only restriction being the Lifetime ISA allowance, which can only be £4,000 of your £20,000 allowance limit each tax year. We’ll cover this in more detail later in the article.
Something we do at Wealthify is offer Stocks and Shares ISAs with different investment styles – from Cautious to Adventurous – and a choice of ‘Original’ or ‘Ethical’ investments. And these tailored decisions impact how your money is invested.
So, you can open multiple ISAs with us (all with different investment themes) to help you achieve specific financial goals you have. (With investing, your capital is at risk.)
We also have a Cash ISA for shorter-term savings goals (things you’d like to achieve in the next five years).
How many ISAs can I open in a year?
For Stocks and Shares ISAs, Cash ISAs, and Innovative Finance ISAs, you can open as many as you’d like to in the tax year. The key difference is that it’s now the individual’s responsibility to not go over the £20,000 allowance limit across all of their accounts.
After the rules changed in April 2024, you no longer need to worry about how many ISAs you can open in a year — you can now open as many as you’d like to. The only restrictions are for Lifetime ISAs for adults, and Junior ISAs if you’re managing one on behalf of a child:
Lifetime ISA limits
Lifetime ISAs are designed to be used by people saving for a first property deposit, or as a personal pension pot. The government will add a 25% bonus on any contributions made into the account, up to the capped deposit limit of £4,000 per tax year (meaning a maximum £1,000 bonus is available), up until you’re 50 years old.
You can only have one Lifetime ISA open at any time; however, you can opt for a provider that offers a cash savings or an investing option. If you change your mind, you can also ask a new Lifetime ISA provider to transfer yours over to their product instead (just follow their instructions on how to handle this).
Lifetime ISAs can be opened by UK residents aged 18-39. Although people who aren’t living in the UK because they are in the armed forces, are crown servants, or are the legal partners of those people are eligible too.
Note: Wealthify does not offer Lifetime ISAs.
Junior ISA limits
Junior ISAs are for children. Each child in the UK is entitled to a tax-free allowance of £9,000 every tax year, which can be put into a Junior ISA and managed by their parent or legal guardian until the child turns 18 — and the money is locked away until then.
The child’s £9,000 Junior ISA allowance is separate to the adult who is managing it on their behalf (who would still get their own £20,000 each year).
Junior ISAs can be either a savings account (a junior version of a Cash ISA) or for investing (a junior version of a Stocks and Shares ISA), and the child is allowed to have one of each type open at any time. This means they cannot have two Junior Stocks and Shares accounts open, for example.
However, Junior ISAs can be transferred to a better-suited provider — the parent/legal guardian would just need to let the providers handle the transfer behind the scenes.
Does transferring an ISA count as opening a new one?
Yes and no. While a new account might exist if you’re simply opening a new ISA, what really matters under the new ISA rules is how using this account could affect your remaining ISA allowance for this tax year. (The money you’ve deposited in past tax years doesn’t affect your current tax year’s ISA allowance, thankfully, even when transferring .)
As well as being able to open multiple ISAs in the same tax year now, you can also transfer your money to a new provider — you just need to make sure you aren’t going over the £20,000 ISA allowance during that tax year, as that allowance is shared across all of these accounts.
If you aren’t just opening an ISA for a new savings or investing goal, but you specifically want to transfer your money between ISAs, here’s the key point to note if you’re concerned whether this would tip you over the ISA allowance:
If you let your new chosen ISA provider handle the transfer from your existing provider’s account, this process will also let you keep your tax-free status for the rest of that tax year.
Keeping track of your ISA allowance
Remember, you are now responsible for keeping track of how much you’ve ‘used’ of your ISA allowance before it resets again on April 6th. No matter how many ISAs you have.
Just to recap, you can spread the £20,000 across multiple accounts (with Lifetime ISAs being capped at £4,000 per tax year).
Some people choose to only use one ISA provider to make it easier to keep track of their allowance, but you can use different providers if you feel you can keep on top of things.
Multiple ISAs for your financial goals
Having multiple ISAs allows you to diversify your savings and spread risk. For example, holding both a Cash ISA and a Stocks and Shares ISA gives you the benefits of saving and investing.
The reason you’d do this? Each ISA has features that could be more suitable for different goals.
For example, Wealthify’s Cash ISA can be easily accessed and could suit a savings goal you’d like to achieve in the next five years: such as a dream holiday, a new car, or paying for a wedding. You only make money through interest with savings accounts, which may not be the best route for longer-term savings goals (considering inflation).
Alternatively, a Stocks and Shares ISA, sometimes called ‘Investment ISAs’, could help you reach long-term financial goals and, as a possible way to beat inflation, as investing is usually something people do for five to ten years at a minimum. This is because of the risk that comes with market performance, and the longer you leave the money in the account, the more potential the investments have to ride out the market highs and lows. Just keep this in mind when monitoring your account, as your investments are at risk of going down and up in this way.
There’s no right or wrong way to manage these goals — your financial aspirations are unique and tailored only to you. But to summarise, you can now open as many ISAs as you’d like to in the tax year (but remember, it’s just one Lifetime ISA). The most important thing is that you’re keeping track of how much of your allowance you’ve used in that year.
With investing, your capital is at risk, so the value of your investments can go down as well as up, which means you could get back less than you initially invested.
Wealthify does not provide advice. If you’re not sure whether investing is right for you, please speak to a financial adviser.
