Paying £4,000 a year into a Lifetime ISA earns a government bonus of £1,000 a year — the most anyone can get, because the LISA limit is £4,000 a year.
| Years | You paid in | Bonus | In the account |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | £4,000 | £1,000 | £5,000 |
| 2 | £8,000 | £2,000 | £10,000 |
| 3 | £12,000 | £3,000 | £15,000 |
| 4 | £16,000 | £4,000 | £20,000 |
| 5 | £20,000 | £5,000 | £25,000 |
| 6 | £24,000 | £6,000 | £30,000 |
| 7 | £28,000 | £7,000 | £35,000 |
| 8 | £32,000 | £8,000 | £40,000 |
| 9 | £36,000 | £9,000 | £45,000 |
| 10 | £40,000 | £10,000 | £50,000 |
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.
£4,000 of the £20,000 allowance, leaving £16,000 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.
£1,000. 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.
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.
Yes. LISA payments count toward the same £20,000 ISA allowance as every other ISA, so £4,000 into a LISA leaves £16,000 for cash, stocks-and-shares and innovative finance ISAs combined. The bonus itself does not use any allowance.
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.
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.