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. Savers aged 65 and over keep the full £20,000 in cash. The regulations are still to be laid, so this is confirmed policy rather than enacted law.
| Now (2026/27) | From 6 April 2027 | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall ISA allowance | £20,000 | £20,000 |
| Of which cash, under 65 | £20,000 | £12,000 |
| Of which cash, 65 and over | £20,000 | £20,000 |
| Lifetime ISA limit | £4,000 | £4,000 |
The £4,000 LISA limit is unchanged, and a cash LISA is a Lifetime ISA rather than a cash ISA, so it is not the allowance being cut. What changes is the rest of your allowance: from April 2027 a saver under 65 who wants to use all £20,000 has to put at least £8,000 of it somewhere other than cash.
This is announced policy, not enacted law — the regulations are still to be laid, and announced tax changes have been reversed before. Treat any plan that depends on the 2027 figures as provisional until the legislation exists.
Read 19 August 2026 from the government's own ISA reform factsheet and GOV.UK's ISA guidance.
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.