The Cash ISA Cut Now Has Its Rules: £12,000 for Under-65s, and a 22% Charge on Cash in a Stocks and Shares ISA
HMRC published the tax information and impact note on 17 September, so the cash ISA change trailed at the last Budget now has its detail. From 6 April 2027 the annual cash ISA subscription limit falls to £12,000 for anyone aged under 65. The overall ISA limit stays at £20,000, and people aged 65 or over keep a full £20,000 cash ISA limit.
The line worth reading twice is not the headline cap but the pair of rules that stop it being sidestepped: transfers from stocks and shares ISAs and Innovative Finance ISAs into cash ISAs will be restricted, and interest paid on cash left sitting inside a non-cash ISA will carry a flat 22% charge. One detail matters more than the cap itself: this is a limit on annual subscriptions, meaning what you pay in each tax year, so it does not touch a penny of the money already in your cash ISA. On HMRC's own figures, 78% of under-65 cash ISA savers paid in less than £12,000 in 2022/23, so most people will not reach the new cap at all.
Source: HMRC - Reduction in the cash ISA limit | Related: Retiring before 57: the ISA bridge
The Government Borrowed £18.3bn in August, £3.5bn More Than Forecast
The ONS public sector finances for August, out on 22 September, put borrowing at £18.3bn for the month. That is £2.9bn more than August last year and £3.5bn above the OBR's forecast. For the financial year to August, borrowing was £77.3bn, which is £8.1bn above forecast even though it is a little below the same point last year. Debt interest alone came to £8.8bn, the highest August figure since monthly records began in 1997. These are the numbers the Chancellor is working with five weeks out from the Budget, and that is as far as the figures can honestly be read.
About 827,000 Matured Child Trust Funds Are Still Unclaimed, Worth £2,310 on Average
HMRC said on 23 September that almost 3 million matured Child Trust Fund accounts have now been claimed or moved into an ISA since September 2020, but around 827,000 are still waiting, worth on average £2,310. These accounts were set up for children born between 1 September 2002 and 2 January 2011, each with a government deposit of at least £250. If you were born in that window, the free locator on GOV.UK finds an account from your National Insurance number and date of birth, and most people hear back in under three weeks.
Source: HMRC - Child Trust Funds waiting to be claimed | Related: Compound interest: what a lump sum can grow into
Help to Save Is Now Permanent, and Opens to All Universal Credit Claimants in 2028
Announced during UK Savings Week on 21 September, the Help to Save scheme, which had been due to close in April 2027, has been made permanent, with more than £300m in bonuses paid out since 2018. Savers pay in £1 to £50 a month and get a 50% government bonus, up to £1,200 on £2,400 saved over four years. From 2028 the earnings test is dropped for people with caring responsibilities and the scheme opens to all Universal Credit claimants, about 1.5 million more households.
Key Dates
1 October 2026 - the new energy price cap period starts and VAT comes off domestic electricity until 31 March 2027.
5 October 2026 - deadline to register for Self Assessment for anyone filing for the first time for 2025/26.
28 October 2026 - the Autumn Budget.
5 November 2026 - the next Bank of England rate decision, with Bank Rate at 3.75% going in.