LISA Mathsthe bonus, the charge, and the cap

£300 a year into a Lifetime ISA

Paying £300 a year into a Lifetime ISA earns a government bonus of £75 a year, and leaves £3,700 of the £4,000 LISA limit unused.

£75 government bonus a year on £300 paid in · £25.00 a month

Paying £300 a year, year by year

YearsYou paid in BonusIn the account
1£300£75£375
2£600£150£750
3£900£225£1,125
4£1,200£300£1,500
5£1,500£375£1,875
6£1,800£450£2,250
7£2,100£525£2,625
8£2,400£600£3,000
9£2,700£675£3,375
10£3,000£750£3,750

No investment return is assumed anywhere on this page. Every figure is money you paid in plus the government bonus — the only part that is guaranteed. A stocks-and-shares LISA can do better or worse than this, and nobody can tell you which.

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What it costs your ISA allowance

£300 of the £20,000 allowance, leaving £19,700 for every other ISA put together. Announced at Autumn Budget 2025: from 6 April 2027 the cash ISA allowance falls to £12,000 for savers under 65, while the overall £20,000 ISA allowance is unchanged — the balance must go into stocks and shares or innovative finance ISAs. See the 2027 change.

Questions

How much bonus do I get on £300 a year?

£75. The bonus is 25% of what you pay in, up to £4,000 a year, so the most anyone can earn is £1,000 a year.

When does the bonus actually arrive?

Your provider claims it monthly on what you paid in that month, and HMRC pays it into the account afterwards — commonly four to nine weeks later. The tables above show it in the year you earned it, not the day it lands.

Does £300 use up my ISA allowance?

Yes. LISA payments count toward the same £20,000 ISA allowance as every other ISA, so £300 into a LISA leaves £19,700 for cash, stocks-and-shares and innovative finance ISAs combined. The bonus itself does not use any allowance.

What if I want the money for something else?

Taking it out before 60 for anything other than a first home costs 25% of the withdrawal, which is 6.25% of your own money — more than the bonus was worth. There is a page for that: what an early withdrawal costs.

Related

Rates and limits read 19 August 2026 from GOV.UK: Lifetime ISA, withdrawing money and ISA allowances. Figures are for the 2026/27 tax year.

Rates and limits for the 2026/27 tax year, read 19 August 2026 from GOV.UK. Nothing here is financial advice: it is arithmetic on published rules, and no investment return is assumed anywhere.