Easy access Cash ISA rates

Who can open one

You need to be 18 or over and a UK resident to open an adult easy access Cash ISA. Since 6 April 2024 you have also been able to hold more than one Cash ISA in the same tax year. So opening a new easy access ISA does not mean closing one you already have, as long as the total you pay into all your Cash ISAs stays within your £20,000 annual allowance.

Why these rates are variable

"Easy access" and "variable rate" go together. Because you can move your money out at any time, the provider keeps the right to move the rate too, usually with notice sent by email, post or through its app under the account's own terms. A rate can rise when the Bank of England base rate rises, and it can just as easily fall on its own when a provider wants fewer new deposits, independent of what the base rate is doing.

Because rates change, a printed or remembered figure goes stale fast. Compare the table above rather than a number you saw last month, and check back before you commit a large balance.

Reading an introductory bonus

Several accounts in the table pay a bonus for a set period, commonly 12 months, on top of the standard variable rate. The bonus is usually the single biggest reason an account tops the table, so look at what the rate drops to once the bonus ends. If a provider does not publish that figure clearly, it is worth asking before you open the account, since the "after bonus" rate is what you will actually earn for most of the time you hold the ISA.

Notice accounts: a middle ground

Some providers also offer a notice Cash ISA, where you agree to give a set number of days' warning, commonly 30 to 120, before a withdrawal, in exchange for a higher rate than easy access. It is not covered in the table above, which lists easy access only, but it is worth considering if you are confident you will not need the money at very short notice and want a better rate without locking in for a full fixed term.

Using it as your everyday savings account

Because there is usually no limit on how often you can pay in or take out, many people use an easy access Cash ISA as their main savings account rather than a separate taxable one, since the interest is tax-free regardless of how the balance moves around. A small number of providers cap the number of free withdrawals each year or apply a minimum balance, so check an individual account's terms if you expect to move money in and out frequently.

What the 6 April 2027 Cash ISA cap means here

From 6 April 2027, easy access Cash ISAs are still available in exactly the same way, but how much you can pay into any Cash ISA in a tax year changes. Savers under 65 at the end of the tax year will be limited to a smaller Cash ISA allowance, with the rest of their overall ISA allowance only usable in a stocks and shares ISA, an Innovative Finance ISA or a Lifetime ISA. Full detail is in what the Cash ISA limit means.

Flexible or not

A flexible easy access ISA lets you take money out and pay it back in during the same tax year without using up any extra allowance, as long as the replacement goes back into the same ISA before the tax year ends. A non-flexible ISA still lets you withdraw freely, but any money you pay back in later counts as new money against that year's allowance. The table above shows whether each account is flexible, and it varies by provider rather than by account type.