Junior ISA

Your child can have a Junior ISA if they:

• are under 18
• live in the UK

How Junior ISAs work

There are two types of Junior ISA:

• Cash Junior ISA, i.e. you won’t pay tax on interest on the cash you save
• Stocks and Shares Junior ISA, i.e. your cash is invested and you won’t pay tax on any capital growth or dividends you receive.

Your child can have one or both types of Junior ISA.

Only parents or a guardian with parental responsibility can open a Junior ISA for under 16s. To open a Junior ISA you need to:

• choose the type of Junior ISA you want – cash or stocks and shares (or both)
• choose your account provider
• complete the application form

Your child can only have:

• one cash Junior ISA
• one stocks and shares Junior ISA

Adding money to an account

Anyone can pay money into a Junior ISA, but the total amount cannot go over the maximum in a tax year as stated in the table above.

Who the money belongs to?

Money in a Junior ISA belongs to your child and cannot be taken out until they are 18, although there are exceptions to this.

Junior ISA – Managing an account

Your child’s Junior ISA will be in their name, but the parent who opens this is responsible for managing the account and known as the ‘registered contact’. The registered contact is the only person who can:

• change the account, i.e. from a Cash to a Stocks and Shares Junior ISA
• change the account provider
• report changes of circumstances, i.e. change of address

Children older than 16

If your child is 16 or older they can:

• become the registered contact for their Junior ISAs
• open a regular ISA

When your child turns 18 they can take out any money in their Junior ISAs. Junior ISAs automatically convert to a regular ISA when the child turns 18.