Best Cash ISA rates

A Cash ISA is a savings account where the interest is always free of Income Tax, however much you already earn in interest elsewhere. You get £20,000 of ISA allowance for the 2026/27 tax year. Split it across a Cash ISA, a Stocks and Shares ISA, a Lifetime ISA and an Innovative Finance ISA however you like, as long as the total stays within £20,000.

Since 6 April 2024 you have also been able to pay into more than one Cash ISA in the same tax year, and to transfer part of the current year's subscriptions rather than all of them. You must be 18 or over to open an adult Cash ISA.

Opening one is usually quick: most providers in the table above let you apply online or through an app in under 15 minutes, and an existing customer of the bank can sometimes open a Cash ISA with a few taps. New customers typically need to pass identity checks first, which can take longer, especially by post.

If you already hold a Cash ISA elsewhere, most providers in the table above will accept a transfer in, shown in the "transfers in" column. Always ask the new provider to handle the transfer for you, rather than withdrawing the money yourself and paying it into the new account. Taking the money out yourself loses its ISA tax-free status, and counts as new money against your allowance instead of a transfer. A transfer can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, and your money keeps earning interest at the old rate until the move completes. See ISA transfers for the full process.

The Islamic Cash ISAs in the table above work like any other Cash ISA for tax and allowance purposes. Instead of interest, they pay an expected profit rate, in line with Sharia principles. That rate is not a guaranteed contractual rate in the way a conventional AER (Annual Equivalent Rate) is, though providers generally aim to pay the rate they quote. See halal ISA for how the underlying structure works and what to check before opening one.

From 6 April 2027, the amount you can put into Cash ISAs falls to £12,000 a year if you are 65 or under at the end of that tax year. The other £8,000 of your £20,000 allowance still exists, but it can only go into a Stocks and Shares ISA, an innovative finance ISA or a Lifetime ISA. If you turn 65 at any point in a tax year, you keep the full £20,000 Cash ISA limit for the whole of that year. Full detail, including how transfers are affected, is in what the Cash ISA limit means.

Cash ISAs with a UK bank, building society or credit union are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme up to £120,000 per person, per authorised banking licence. Several brands can share one licence, in which case the £120,000 limit applies across all of them combined, not to each brand separately. Check a provider's own terms, or the FSCS website, if you are holding a large balance across more than one account.

Easy access Cash ISAs let you pay in and take out money whenever you like, but the rate is variable, so it can go up or down at any time, sometimes with little notice. Many easy access rates include an introductory bonus for the first 12 months, after which the rate usually drops, so it is worth checking the "after bonus" rate as well as the headline one.

Fixed rate Cash ISAs lock your rate for a set term, from one year up to five, so you know exactly what you will earn. In exchange, taking money out before the term ends usually costs you a chunk of interest, typically worked out as a number of days' interest on the amount withdrawn. If there is a chance you will need the money before the term is up, an easy access or notice account is the safer choice, even at a lower rate.

Whichever type you choose, check whether the ISA is flexible. A flexible ISA lets you withdraw money and pay it back in during the same tax year without the replacement counting against that year's £20,000 allowance. It is a feature each provider chooses to offer, not a guarantee that comes with every Cash ISA.