Will changes to ISA limits turn savers into investors? New data shows only 1 in 10 cash ISA holders also has a stocks and shares ISA
Lubbock Fine, 1 April 2026
Lubbock Fine, 1 April 2026
Just 10.4% of people with a cash ISA also have a stocks and shares ISA, according to our new research from Lubbock Fine Wealth Management, part of chartered accountants and business advisors Lubbock Fine, based on HMRC data*. It shows that out of the 7.1 million people that have a cash ISA, only 739,000 also have a shares ISA.
Andrew Tricker, Director at Lubbock Fine Wealth Management, says the figures suggest cash ISA investors are very risk averse and may stick to the ‘safety’ of cash ISAs, instead of investing more money in shares ISAs.
From April 2027, the tax-free annual allowance for cash ISA will be reduced from £20,000 to £12,000, while the allowance for shares ISAs will remain at £20,000. The changes are meant to encourage savers to invest more in shares ISAs. The low uptake of shares ISAs raises questions over whether recent Government policies aimed at pushing savers into investing will deliver meaningful change, Andrew Tricker says.
Andrew also adds: “The Government significantly reduced the tax-free allowance for cash ISAs to push savers into investing, but it remains to be seen whether this will be effective.”
The share of ISA investments going into shares ISAs fell to 30% of all ISA investments in the last year, down from 39% the previous year**. The share going into Cash ISAs increased to 67%, up from 58%.
In total, of the £103 billion invested in ISAs, £69.5 billion were subscribed into cash ISAs and only £31 billion into stock and shares ISAs in the last year.
Since the government announced the reduction in the tax-free allowance for cash ISAs, only 2% of cash ISA holders have opened a shares ISA***.
Görkem Barron, Chartered Financial Planner at Lubbock Fine Wealth Management, says the government should do more to close the financial ‘advice gap’ affecting people who do not invest usually.
She explains: “Many people do not invest and prefer to keep cash simply because they don’t know what alternatives they have. Instead, they often overestimate the risks and underestimate the benefits of investing.”
Since April 2026, some financial institutions including banks or building societies are able to offer financial advice to groups of consumers, rather than solely to individuals on a personalised basis.
Gorkem says: “The new rules on financial advice should help more people access advice, but it’s unclear whether this will really shift people away from holding cash into investing through stocks and shares ISAs."
"There is much more than the government could do on top of that. For example, allowing unused Stocks and Shares ISA allowances to be carried forward for one year could help encourage more people to invest.”
* Tax year 2022/23. Source: HMRC’s Annual Savings Statistics 2025.
** Tax year 2023/24. Source: HMRC’s Annual Savings Statistics 2025.
*** Source: Opinium Research
