Cash ISA - incoming reduction (don't panic)
Cash ISA - incoming reduction (don't panic)
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Discussion

trickywoo

Original Poster:

14,127 posts

259 months

Thursday 27th November 2025
quotequote all
Fidelity have confirmed that you can put the full £20k annual ISA allowance into a 'Cash Fund' which is basically cash but can be held in S&S.

jjones

4,488 posts

222 months

Thursday 27th November 2025
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check if funds allocated in this way get protection from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (the currently £85k protection in case an entity goes pop).

WrekinCrew

5,678 posts

179 months

Thursday 27th November 2025
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jjones said:
check if funds allocated in this way get protection from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (the currently £85k protection in case an entity goes pop).
£120k starting next week.

Simpo Two

92,662 posts

294 months

Thursday 27th November 2025
quotequote all
trickywoo said:
Fidelity have confirmed that you can put the full £20k annual ISA allowance into a 'Cash Fund' which is basically cash but can be held in S&S.
May as well put it in a Money Market fund and get some return, currently 4%+.

SV_WDC

1,181 posts

118 months

Thursday 27th November 2025
quotequote all
trickywoo said:
Fidelity have confirmed that you can put the full £20k annual ISA allowance into a 'Cash Fund' which is basically cash but can be held in S&S.
The key is 'fund' and there will be a form to acknolwedge that you may get less back than you paid in blah blah, which also means no FSCS

Simpo Two

92,662 posts

294 months

Thursday 27th November 2025
quotequote all
SV_WDC said:
trickywoo said:
Fidelity have confirmed that you can put the full £20k annual ISA allowance into a 'Cash Fund' which is basically cash but can be held in S&S.
The key is 'fund' and there will be a form to acknolwedge that you may get less back than you paid in blah blah, which also means no FSCS
Here's a Fidelity Cash Fund: https://www.fidelity.co.uk/factsheet-data/factshee...

Yes it's a variable return but you can take your money out if you don't like it.

Philvrs

775 posts

126 months

Thursday 27th November 2025
quotequote all
IG currently pays 4% on uninvested cash (upto 100k) in a s&s isa. There are some conditions like holding one open position (i think).
I thought most s&s isa offered something similar?

E63eeeeee...

5,766 posts

78 months

Thursday 27th November 2025
quotequote all
Philvrs said:
IG currently pays 4% on uninvested cash (upto 100k) in a s&s isa. There are some conditions like holding one open position (i think).
I thought most s&s isa offered something similar?
You'd have to assume there will be a limit introduced on this as part of the change, otherwise you'll just end up with a load of cash-only S&S ISAs.

tele_lover

3,282 posts

44 months

Friday 28th November 2025
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In case people are not noticing:

If you put money in a "cash ISA" invested in money markets, the 85/125k FSCS coverage does NOT apply.

trickywoo

Original Poster:

14,127 posts

259 months

Friday 28th November 2025
quotequote all
tele_lover said:
In case people are not noticing:

If you put money in a "cash ISA" invested in money markets, the 85/125k FSCS coverage does NOT apply.
Is anyone really worried about that. It’s just to stop the masses doing a run if they hear something on X.

If you invest on a reputable platform there is nothing to worry about.

Does anyone seriously think Fidelity or HL would fail in the first place or the government would let it happen if it seemed a possibility?

NowWatchThisDrive

1,324 posts

133 months

Friday 28th November 2025
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Aaaaand there it is: HMRC to punish savers who dodge cash ISA crackdown
...by taxing "cash-like" holdings inside S&S ISAs.

Not entirely unexpected perhaps but this will be a bit of a mess to define and enforce if they actually pursue it

Edited by NowWatchThisDrive on Friday 28th November 16:09

jesusbuiltmycar

5,125 posts

283 months

Friday 28th November 2025
quotequote all
NowWatchThisDrive said:
Aaaaand there it is: HMRC to punish savers who dodge cash ISA crackdown
...by taxing "cash-like" holdings inside S&S ISAs.

Not entirely unexpected perhaps but this will be a bit of a mess to define and enforce if they actually pursue it

Edited by NowWatchThisDrive on Friday 28th November 16:09
Be interesting how they determine and enforce these rules, there are hundreds of non S&S ETF products including ones that mix S&S with bonds.

timbo999

1,537 posts

284 months

Friday 28th November 2025
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Can you invest £20k in a S&S ISA and then do an ISA transfer to a cash ISA?

And the answer appears to be 'no' according to that Torygraph article.

Edited by timbo999 on Friday 28th November 16:57

butchstewie

67,239 posts

239 months

Friday 28th November 2025
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Nobody knows the mechanics right now but in any sane world the answer is going to be no else it makes a complete mockery of the changes.

NowWatchThisDrive

1,324 posts

133 months

Friday 28th November 2025
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jesusbuiltmycar said:
Be interesting how they determine and enforce these rules, there are hundreds of non S&S ETF products including ones that mix S&S with bonds.
Yep, there used to be restrictions on this stuff to some extent (e.g. interest generally wasn't payable on cash balances) back in the day but the ETF industry has come on a lot since then and as you say products containing fixed income assets have hugely proliferated, so I'm not quite sure where they might go with this.

In fact by my reading of the govt guidance, as with the cash ISA carve-out itself these anti-circumvention measures inside S&S ISAs will also cease to apply once you're 65. What an absolute farce!

LeoSayer

7,812 posts

273 months

Friday 28th November 2025
quotequote all
jesusbuiltmycar said:
NowWatchThisDrive said:
Aaaaand there it is: HMRC to punish savers who dodge cash ISA crackdown
...by taxing "cash-like" holdings inside S&S ISAs.

Not entirely unexpected perhaps but this will be a bit of a mess to define and enforce if they actually pursue it

Edited by NowWatchThisDrive on Friday 28th November 16:09
Be interesting how they determine and enforce these rules, there are hundreds of non S&S ETF products including ones that mix S&S with bonds.
Beyond banning transfers to a cash ISA, it's not practical to implement any kind of test. There are so many reasons to hold cash that are nothing to do with long-term cash savings.

What if you want to raise cash ahead of a property purchase which may not happen?

What if you want to hold a gilt until maturity?

What if you've done your annual ISA subscription and the stock market is dropping like a stone?

What if your investment strategy (like mine) is to hold a global equity fund and short-term gilt fund?


Edited by LeoSayer on Friday 28th November 17:10

WayOutWest

1,183 posts

87 months

Friday 28th November 2025
quotequote all
NowWatchThisDrive said:
Aaaaand there it is: HMRC to punish savers who dodge cash ISA crackdown
...by taxing "cash-like" holdings inside S&S ISAs.

Not entirely unexpected perhaps but this will be a bit of a mess to define and enforce if they actually pursue it

Edited by NowWatchThisDrive on Friday 28th November 16:09
LOL, I was just about to post that article here!

What if you buy a 6 year individual gilt, are they going to monitor it constantly until it is less than 5 or 2 years or whatever from maturity and then fine you.

tele_lover

3,282 posts

44 months

Friday 28th November 2025
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Maybe the Government should consider a simpler way to save money:

Don't increase benefits by 3.5% eh?

Simpo Two

92,662 posts

294 months

Friday 28th November 2025
quotequote all
NowWatchThisDrive said:
Aaaaand there it is: HMRC to punish savers who dodge cash ISA crackdown
...by taxing "cash-like" holdings inside S&S ISAs.
So... you earn money, pay tax on it, save it - and then pay tax on it again. Yep that sounds like Labour.

jayymannon

291 posts

106 months

Friday 28th November 2025
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Furthermore, will these charges apply on a daily basis?

If your £12,000 cash limit is used up:

What if I add £1000 to a S&S ISA in order to invest, am I getting charged daily on the cash until such time as I make the investment decision?

What if I sell some investments? Do I then get charged daily on the cash until I decide to either re-invest or remove the cash from the ISA?


I only have a small amount in a S&S ISA and am very unlikely to use up the £12000 cash limit on a yearly basis outside of a cash windfall/inheritance/house-sale but it's kindof putting me off of S&S ISAs which I think is the opposite of what they intended.