How much can I pay into a Junior ISA?

Up to £9,000 in the 2026/27 tax year. That is the total a child's Junior ISA can receive across the year, no matter how many people pay in, and it is separate from the adult £20,000 ISA allowance. If your child has both a cash Junior ISA and a stocks and shares Junior ISA, the £9,000 is shared across the two, not £9,000 each. Anything not used by 5 April does not roll over to the next year.

When can my child get the money?

The money is locked until your child turns 18. They can take control of the account at 16, meaning they manage it themselves, but they cannot withdraw anything until 18. At 18 the account becomes theirs in full and converts to an adult ISA, and they can spend, save or keep it invested as they choose. The money belongs to the child throughout, so it is not yours to take back.

Is a Junior ISA tax-free?

Yes. On a cash Junior ISA you pay no tax on the interest. On a stocks and shares Junior ISA you pay no tax on any growth or dividends. The money also does not count against the adult who pays in, and there is no tax to settle when the child takes it at 18. This is one of the few accounts where a child can build a meaningful pot with no tax due on the gains.

Can grandparents pay into a Junior ISA?

Yes. Only a parent or guardian with parental responsibility can open the account and manage it, but once it is open anyone can contribute, including grandparents, other relatives and family friends. What everyone pays in together still has to stay within the £9,000 yearly limit for that child. So a grandparent topping it up at Christmas or a birthday counts towards the same £9,000 as the parent's payments.

Cash or stocks and shares for a young child?

It depends on how long the money has to grow and how you feel about ups and downs. A cash Junior ISA pays a set interest rate and the balance never falls, which suits a short timeframe or a parent who wants certainty. A stocks and shares Junior ISA can rise and fall in the short term but has historically grown more over long periods, which is why many parents use it when a child is young and the money has well over a decade to ride out the dips. Neither is risk-free in the sense that matters: cash can be eroded by inflation, and investments can lose value. Take this as general information to weigh up, not financial advice.

What happens if my child has a Child Trust Fund?

A child cannot hold a Child Trust Fund and a Junior ISA at the same time. If your child has a Child Trust Fund, you can ask a provider to transfer it into a Junior ISA, which often opens up better rates and lower charges. The transfer does not use up the £9,000 yearly limit. Child Trust Funds were given to children born between 1 September 2002 and 2 January 2011, so plenty of teenagers still have one sitting unclaimed.

Junior ISA explained | rules, limit and types

A Junior ISA (JISA) is a long-term, tax-free savings or investment account for a child under 18. You can pay in up to £9,000 in the 2026/27 tax year, the money belongs to the child, and it stays locked until they turn 18. There are two kinds: a cash Junior ISA and a stocks and shares Junior ISA, and a child can hold one or both.

The short version

The 2026/27 Junior ISA limit is £9,000 a year, shared across both types, and separate from the adult £20,000 ISA allowance.
Only a parent or guardian can open one, but anyone can pay into it once it is open, as long as the total stays within £9,000.
All the growth is tax-free: no tax on cash interest, and none on investment gains or dividends.
The money is the child's. They take control at 16 but cannot withdraw a penny until they turn 18.
Cash gives certainty; stocks and shares can grow more over a long run but can fall. Everything here is general information to plan with, not financial advice.

The rules at a glance

Here are the headline rules for the 2026/27 tax year, set by the government and the same whichever provider you use:

Rule	2026/27
Yearly allowance	£9,000 per child, across both Junior ISA types
Who it is for	Children under 18 living in the UK
Types	Cash Junior ISA and stocks and shares Junior ISA
Who can open it	A parent or guardian with parental responsibility
Who can pay in	Anyone, within the £9,000 total
Takes control at	16
Can withdraw at	18
Tax	No tax on interest, growth or dividends

What a Junior ISA is

A Junior ISA is a tax-free savings or investment account opened for a child under 18. ISA stands for Individual Savings Account, a wrapper that shelters whatever sits inside it from UK tax. The junior version works the same way for a child: the cash interest or investment growth builds up without any tax to pay, and there is nothing to settle when the money is handed over at 18.

It is meant for the long term. Because the money cannot be touched until the child turns 18, a Junior ISA tends to be used to build a head start for adulthood, towards university costs, a first car, a house deposit or simply a pot of savings. It sits alongside the rest of the family's allowances rather than eating into them, which is the part many parents miss. To see how it fits with the broader rules, it helps to read the wider ISA allowance guide.

How much you can pay in

You can pay up to £9,000 into a child's Junior ISA in the 2026/27 tax year. That figure is per child, not per account, so if your child holds both a cash and a stocks and shares Junior ISA the £9,000 is split however you like across the two, not £9,000 each.

The £9,000 is also completely separate from an adult's own £20,000 ISA allowance. Paying into your child's Junior ISA does not use up any of your own allowance, so a parent can fill their own ISA and still put up to £9,000 into each child's. The tax year runs to 5 April, and any unused Junior ISA allowance does not carry over: if you only pay in £2,000 this year, you cannot add £16,000 next year to catch up.

Cash vs stocks and shares

There are two kinds of Junior ISA, and a child can hold one or both at the same time as long as the combined payments stay within £9,000.

Cash Junior ISA. Works like a children's savings account, but tax-free. The provider pays a set interest rate, the balance never falls, and you always know roughly what it will be worth. The trade-off is that if the interest rate is below inflation, the money loses a little buying power over many years.
Stocks and shares Junior ISA. The money is invested, usually in funds that hold shares and other assets. The value can rise and fall day to day, so it can be worth less than you paid in at any given moment, but over long periods the stock market has historically grown more than cash savings. There may be platform or fund charges to watch.

The honest answer on which to pick is that it turns on the timeframe and your stomach for ups and downs. For a newborn with 18 years ahead, many parents lean towards stocks and shares because the money has long enough to ride out the dips; for a teenager only a few years from 18, the certainty of cash often wins. Neither is risk-free: cash risks falling behind inflation, investments risk falling in value. To understand why time matters so much here, it is worth reading how savings grow over time.

Who can open and pay in

Only a parent or guardian with parental responsibility can open a Junior ISA and manage it. The child must be under 18 and living in the UK. A child cannot hold a Junior ISA and a Child Trust Fund at once, so if they have a Child Trust Fund you would ask a provider to transfer it across, which does not count against the £9,000 limit.

Once the account is open, though, anyone can contribute: grandparents, aunts and uncles, godparents, family friends. They cannot open it, but they can pay into the one the parent set up. Whatever everyone puts in together still has to stay inside the same £9,000 for the year, so it is worth co-ordinating birthday and Christmas top-ups rather than each person assuming they have a fresh allowance to use.

When the child can touch the money

The money is the child's, and it is locked until they turn 18. There is a halfway step at 16: the child can take control of the account, meaning they manage it and make the decisions, but they still cannot withdraw anything. Full access arrives on their 18th birthday, when the Junior ISA automatically becomes an adult ISA in their name and they can spend it, keep saving it or leave it invested.

This lock is the point of the account, not a flaw in it: it is what stops the pot being dipped into and gives the savings years to build. It also means a parent cannot reclaim the money once it is paid in. If you might need access before the child is 18, a Junior ISA is the wrong home for that cash.

How to choose one

We do not sell or rank Junior ISAs, so rather than name providers, here is what to weigh up when you compare them yourself:

Type first. Decide cash or stocks and shares (or a split) based on how many years until the child is 18 and how you feel about the value moving up and down.
For cash: the interest rate. Compare the rate, and check if the rate is fixed or variable, since a variable rate can be cut later.
For stocks and shares: the charges. Platform fees and fund charges quietly eat into long-term growth, so a lower-cost option can matter more than a flashy fund name.
Transfers. Check the provider accepts a transfer in if your child has a Child Trust Fund or an existing Junior ISA elsewhere, and that it does not charge to do so.
How you pay in. Look at whether others can contribute easily, and whether you can set up a regular monthly amount rather than one lump.

Rates and charges change often, so check the current terms with the provider and on gov.uk before you commit.

What the pot could grow to

The number that surprises most parents is what regular, modest paying-in can turn into over 18 years, because the growth compounds: each year's interest or investment return then earns its own return. A small monthly amount started early can outpace a larger amount started late.

Rather than guess, put your own figures in. If you have a target in mind for the child's 18th, work back from it with the savings goal calculator to see what you would need to set aside each month. If you would rather see how a set monthly amount snowballs at a given growth rate, the compound interest calculator projects the pot year by year. Both give estimates to plan with, not a promise, since real interest rates and investment returns vary.

Common questions

How much can I pay into a Junior ISA?: Up to £9,000 in the 2026/27 tax year. That is the total a child's Junior ISA can receive across the year, no matter how many people pay in, and it is separate from the adult £20,000 ISA allowance. If your child has both a cash Junior ISA and a stocks and shares Junior ISA, the £9,000 is shared across the two, not £9,000 each. Anything not used by 5 April does not roll over to the next year.
When can my child get the money?: The money is locked until your child turns 18. They can take control of the account at 16, meaning they manage it themselves, but they cannot withdraw anything until 18. At 18 the account becomes theirs in full and converts to an adult ISA, and they can spend, save or keep it invested as they choose. The money belongs to the child throughout, so it is not yours to take back.
Is a Junior ISA tax-free?: Yes. On a cash Junior ISA you pay no tax on the interest. On a stocks and shares Junior ISA you pay no tax on any growth or dividends. The money also does not count against the adult who pays in, and there is no tax to settle when the child takes it at 18. This is one of the few accounts where a child can build a meaningful pot with no tax due on the gains.
Can grandparents pay into a Junior ISA?: Yes. Only a parent or guardian with parental responsibility can open the account and manage it, but once it is open anyone can contribute, including grandparents, other relatives and family friends. What everyone pays in together still has to stay within the £9,000 yearly limit for that child. So a grandparent topping it up at Christmas or a birthday counts towards the same £9,000 as the parent's payments.
Cash or stocks and shares for a young child?: It depends on how long the money has to grow and how you feel about ups and downs. A cash Junior ISA pays a set interest rate and the balance never falls, which suits a short timeframe or a parent who wants certainty. A stocks and shares Junior ISA can rise and fall in the short term but has historically grown more over long periods, which is why many parents use it when a child is young and the money has well over a decade to ride out the dips. Neither is risk-free in the sense that matters: cash can be eroded by inflation, and investments can lose value. Take this as general information to weigh up, not financial advice.
What happens if my child has a Child Trust Fund?: A child cannot hold a Child Trust Fund and a Junior ISA at the same time. If your child has a Child Trust Fund, you can ask a provider to transfer it into a Junior ISA, which often opens up better rates and lower charges. The transfer does not use up the £9,000 yearly limit. Child Trust Funds were given to children born between 1 September 2002 and 2 January 2011, so plenty of teenagers still have one sitting unclaimed.

About this article

Written by the calcd team. We build UK money calculators and explain the numbers behind them in plain English. We checked the Junior ISA rules and the 2026/27 £9,000 allowance in this article against gov.uk as the primary source. The figures here are general information to help you plan, not financial advice, and the right choice between cash and stocks and shares depends on your own circumstances. Rates, charges and rules can change, so confirm anything important with the provider and on gov.uk. Last updated June 2026.

Hit your savings goal

How much to save a month to hit your target.

Open the calculator