ISA and Pension Allowances for 2026/27
How much you can put into ISAs and pensions in the UK this tax year, what changes in April 2027, calculators for your own allowance and tax relief, and the full history of the limits since ISAs began in 1999.
Figures checked 23 October 2026. The Autumn Budget 2026 on 28 October 2026 may change some of these allowances; the figures below are the rules as legislated or announced before it.
01All the Allowances at a Glance
| Allowance | 2026/27 | From 6 April 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| ISA allowance (all ISAs combined) | £20,000 | £20,000 (frozen to 5 April 2031) |
| Of which in cash ISAs: under 65 | £20,000 | £12,000 |
| Of which in cash ISAs: 65 and over | £20,000 | £20,000 |
| Lifetime ISA (counts toward the ISA allowance) | £4,000 + 25% bonus | £4,000 (to be replaced; see below) |
| Junior ISA | £9,000 | no change announced |
| Pension annual allowance | £60,000 | no change announced |
| Tapered annual allowance minimum | £10,000 (adjusted income of £360,000 or more) | no change announced |
| Money purchase annual allowance | £10,000 | no change announced |
| Tax-free lump sum (Lump Sum Allowance) | £268,275 | no change announced |
| Lump Sum and Death Benefit Allowance | £1,073,100 | no change announced |
| Earliest age to take a private pension | 55 | 55 (57 from 6 April 2028) |
| Personal Savings Allowance (basic / higher / additional rate) | £1,000 / £500 / £0 | no change announced |
| Tax on savings interest above the allowance | 20% / 40% / 45% | 22% / 42% / 47% |
| Dividend allowance | £500 | no change announced |
| Capital gains tax annual exempt amount | £3,000 | no change announced |
The cash ISA age test is your age at the end of the tax year: anyone who will still be under 65 on 5 April is under the lower cash limit for that year. Savings tax rates apply across the UK, including to Scottish taxpayers, on interest outside ISAs and above the Personal Savings Allowance.
02Calculators
ISA allowance left in 2026/27
Your pension annual allowance
Tax relief on what you pay into a personal pension
A guide to the HMRC rules, not tax or financial advice. The pension calculator does not cover defined benefit schemes' alternative annual allowance or scheme pays; higher-rate relief is only available on contributions that fall within the higher-rate band, so the extra relief shown is the most you could claim.
03The Cash ISA Changes in April 2027
From 6 April 2027, the overall ISA allowance stays at £20,000, but savers under 65 can put no more than £12,000 of it into cash ISAs. To use the rest they need a stocks and shares or innovative finance ISA. Savers aged 65 or over at the end of the tax year can still put the full £20,000 into cash. Money already in cash ISAs is not affected.
The rules, set in the Individual Savings Account (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2026, also close the obvious workarounds. Interest on cash held inside a stocks and shares or innovative finance ISA will be charged at a flat 22%, the new basic rate of tax on savings income. Savers under 65 will not be able to transfer money from a stocks and shares ISA into a cash ISA. And a stocks and shares ISA will not be allowed to hold nothing but money market funds.
04The ISA Allowance Every Year
| Tax year | ISA allowance | Cash ISA limit |
|---|---|---|
| 2027/28 | £20,000 | £12,000 (under 65) |
| 2026/27 | £20,000 | any amount |
| 2025/26 | £20,000 | any amount |
| 2024/25 | £20,000 | any amount |
| 2023/24 | £20,000 | any amount |
| 2022/23 | £20,000 | any amount |
| 2021/22 | £20,000 | any amount |
| 2020/21 | £20,000 | any amount |
| 2019/20 | £20,000 | any amount |
| 2018/19 | £20,000 | any amount |
| 2017/18 | £20,000 | any amount |
| 2016/17 | £15,240 | any amount |
| 2015/16 | £15,240 | any amount |
| 2014/15 | £15,000 (£11,880, with £5,940 in cash, until 30 June 2014) | any amount |
| 2013/14 | £11,520 | £5,760 |
| 2012/13 | £11,280 | £5,640 |
| 2011/12 | £10,680 | £5,340 |
| 2010/11 | £10,200 | £5,100 |
| 2009/10 | £7,200 (£10,200, with £5,100 in cash, for over-50s from 6 October 2009) | £3,600 |
| 2008/09 | £7,200 | £3,600 |
| 2007/08 | £7,000 | £3,000 |
| 2006/07 | £7,000 | £3,000 |
| 2005/06 | £7,000 | £3,000 |
| 2004/05 | £7,000 | £3,000 |
| 2003/04 | £7,000 | £3,000 |
| 2002/03 | £7,000 | £3,000 |
| 2001/02 | £7,000 | £3,000 |
| 2000/01 | £7,000 | £3,000 |
| 1999/00 | £7,000 | £3,000 |
ISAs replaced PEPs and TESSAs on 6 April 1999. Until April 2008 the limit was split between "mini" and "maxi" ISAs; from 1 July 2014 all ISAs became New ISAs with one combined allowance and no separate cash limit, until the cash limit returns for under-65s in 2027/28. Source: HMRC ISA statistics and GOV.UK.
| Tax year | Junior ISA limit |
|---|---|
| 2020/21 onward | £9,000 |
| 2019/20 | £4,368 |
| 2018/19 | £4,260 |
| 2017/18 | £4,128 |
| 2016/17 | £4,080 |
| 2015/16 | £4,080 |
| 2014/15 | £4,000 |
| 2013/14 | £3,720 |
| 2012/13 | £3,600 |
| 2011/12 | £3,600 |
05Pension Allowances Every Year
| Tax year | Annual allowance | Lifetime allowance |
|---|---|---|
| 2026/27 | £60,000 | abolished |
| 2025/26 | £60,000 | abolished |
| 2024/25 | £60,000 | abolished |
| 2023/24 | £60,000 | £1,073,100 |
| 2022/23 | £40,000 | £1,073,100 |
| 2021/22 | £40,000 | £1,073,100 |
| 2020/21 | £40,000 | £1,073,100 |
| 2019/20 | £40,000 | £1,055,000 |
| 2018/19 | £40,000 | £1,030,000 |
| 2017/18 | £40,000 | £1,000,000 |
| 2016/17 | £40,000 | £1,000,000 |
| 2015/16 | £40,000 | £1,250,000 |
| 2014/15 | £40,000 | £1,250,000 |
| 2013/14 | £50,000 | £1,500,000 |
| 2012/13 | £50,000 | £1,500,000 |
| 2011/12 | £50,000 | £1,800,000 |
| 2010/11 | £255,000 | £1,800,000 |
| 2009/10 | £245,000 | £1,750,000 |
| 2008/09 | £235,000 | £1,650,000 |
| 2007/08 | £225,000 | £1,600,000 |
| 2006/07 | £215,000 | £1,500,000 |
Both allowances began on 6 April 2006 ("A-Day"). In 2015/16 the annual allowance was split while pension input periods were aligned with the tax year. The lifetime allowance charge was removed in April 2023 and the allowance abolished from 6 April 2024, replaced by the Lump Sum Allowance (£268,275, a quarter of the old £1,073,100) and the Lump Sum and Death Benefit Allowance (£1,073,100). Since 2023/24 the tapered annual allowance has applied when threshold income is over £200,000 and adjusted income is over £260,000, reducing the allowance by £1 for every £2 above that, to no less than £10,000. Source: HMRC pension schemes rates and allowances.
06The Lifetime ISA and Its Replacement
The Lifetime ISA lets anyone aged 18 to 39 open an account and pay in up to £4,000 a year until 50, with a 25% government bonus of up to £1,000 a year. The money can go toward a first home costing £450,000 or less, bought at least 12 months after the first payment, or be taken from age 60. Any other withdrawal costs 25% of the amount taken out, which claws back the bonus and a little more.
The government announced at Budget 2025 that the Lifetime ISA will be replaced by a simpler First Time Buyer ISA, and consulted on it from June to August 2026. The proposal has no upper age limit to open one and no withdrawal charge, pays the bonus when the savings are withdrawn to buy a first home with a mortgage, and leaves the bonus rate, annual limit and house price cap to be set later. No start date had been announced as of 23 October 2026. Until it launches, new Lifetime ISAs can still be opened, and existing ones can keep being paid into under the current rules.
07The State Pension
The full new State Pension is £241.30 a week in 2026/27, up 4.8% from £230.25 under the triple lock, which raises it each April by the highest of earnings growth, inflation or 2.5%. That is £12,548 over a year, compared with a personal allowance of £12,570. It takes 35 qualifying years of National Insurance to get the full amount and 10 to get anything. People who reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016 are on the older basic State Pension, £184.90 a week in 2026/27.
The State Pension age is rising from 66 to 67 for people born on or after 6 April 1960; everyone born between 6 March 1961 and 5 April 1977 reaches it at 67. A rise to 68 is legislated for 2044 to 2046.
Workplace pensions. Employers must automatically enrol workers aged 22 to State Pension age who earn over £10,000 a year, with at least 8% of qualifying earnings (between £6,240 and £50,270) going in, of which at least 3% comes from the employer.
08Why the Allowances Matter
Outside an ISA, interest is tax-free only up to the Personal Savings Allowance (£1,000 for basic-rate taxpayers, £500 at the higher rate and nothing at the additional rate), dividends only up to £500, and capital gains only up to £3,000 a year. The dividend and capital gains allowances have been cut sharply since April 2023, from £2,000 and £12,300, dividend tax rates rose to 10.75%, 35.75%, 39.35% in April 2026, and tax on savings interest rises to 22%, 42%, 47% from April 2027. Inside an ISA, interest, dividends and gains are all tax-free (apart from a 22% charge from April 2027 on interest on cash held in stocks and shares or innovative finance ISAs), which is why the ISA allowance matters more than it used to.
Pensions work the other way round: money goes in with tax relief at your highest rate, grows tax-free, and is taxed as income when it comes out, apart from the tax-free lump sum. From 6 April 2027 most unused pension money will also count toward the value of an estate for inheritance tax, and from April 2029 only the first £2,000 a year of pension contributions made through salary sacrifice will be free of National Insurance.
09Questions People Ask
What is the ISA allowance for 2026/27?
£20,000 across all your ISAs for the tax year from 6 April to 5 April. It can be split between cash, stocks and shares, innovative finance and Lifetime ISAs, but no more than £4,000 can go into a Lifetime ISA. Unused allowance does not carry over to the next year.
Is the cash ISA allowance being cut?
Yes, for savers under 65. From 6 April 2027 they can put no more than £12,000 a year into cash ISAs, with the rest of the £20,000 available for stocks and shares ISAs. Savers who are 65 or over at the end of the tax year keep the full £20,000 for cash.
How much can I pay into a pension?
Up to £60,000 a year in total, including your employer's contributions, or less if your income is high enough for the taper. Your own contributions only get tax relief up to 100% of your UK earnings, or £3,600 gross if you earn less than that. You can also carry forward unused allowance from the previous three tax years.
How much of my pension can I take tax-free?
Usually 25% of your pension pot, up to a lifetime total of £268,275 for most people (higher for some with older protections). The rest is taxed as income when you take it.
10Sources
- GOV.UK: Individual Savings Accounts, Lifetime ISA and Junior ISAs
- HMRC: Cash ISA limit reduction and Tax-free savings newsletter 23
- HM Treasury: First Time Buyer ISA consultation
- HMRC: Pension schemes rates and allowances and tax relief on pensions
- GOV.UK: the new State Pension and workplace pensions
- The Individual Savings Account (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2026; HMRC ISA statistics (allowance history), Finance Act 2026 (savings and dividend tax rates, pensions and inheritance tax)
Related: TFSA, RRSP and FHSA Contribution Limits (Canada) · 401(k) and IRA Contribution Limits (United States) · all Financial Tools
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Source data: GOV.UK and HMRC. Updates: Yearly. Page last updated October 24, 2026. How we build our data pages.