How many savers would the £12,000 Cash ISA cut have hit?

What HMRC’s figures show

HMRC published its annual savings statistics on 16 September 2026. Its detailed tables break down Cash ISA savers by how much they paid in during 2023-24, and for the first time the bands split exactly at £12,000.

Cash ISA savers, 2023-24

Paid more than £12,000

3.46 million

38.6% of savers with only a Cash ISA

Paid in the full £20,000

2.59 million

Up 77% in a year

Under 65 and above £12,000

About 2 million

Our estimate, range 1.5m to 2.5m

Paid into Cash ISAs, 2024-25

£95.6bn

Provisional, up 37.5% on 2023-24

Of the 8.96 million people who paid only into Cash ISAs in 2023-24, 3.46 million paid in more than £12,000. Savers bunch at both ends: 2.65 million paid in £2,000 or less, and 2.59 million paid in exactly £20,000, the most allowed.

£1 to £2,000

2.65m

£2,001 to £4,000

1.21m

£4,001 to £6,000

0.60m

£6,001 to £8,000

0.33m

£8,001 to £10,000

0.48m

£10,001 to £12,000

0.24m

£12,001 to £14,000

0.17m

£14,001 to £16,000

0.27m

£16,001 to £18,000

0.14m

£18,001 to £19,999

0.29m

£20,000

2.59m

Source: HMRC, Individual Savings Account tables 2026, Table 9.7.

The number paying in the full £20,000 has risen fast, as higher interest rates drew more savings into Cash ISAs.

2021-22

0.66m

2022-23

1.46m

2023-24

2.59m

Source: HMRC, Individual Savings Account tables 2024, 2025 and 2026, Table 9.7.

Who the limit actually applies to

The cancelled plan would have applied the £12,000 limit from 6 April 2027 to savers who were 64 or under at the end of the tax year, with savers 65 or over keeping £20,000. HMRC’s tables suggest about 2.5 million of the people who saved only in Cash ISAs in 2023-24, around 28%, were 65 or over. See the Cash ISA limit for what the Budget decided.

The government’s own impact note, published on 17 September 2026, says 22% of under-65 Cash ISA savers paid in more than £12,000 in 2022-23. It gives no headcount. On HMRC’s count of under-65 Cash ISA savers that year, 22% works out at about 1.2 million to 1.3 million people.

How we estimated the under-65 figure

HMRC splits savers by age and by amount, but not both at once, so the number of under-65s above £12,000 has to be estimated. We took the roughly 6.4 million under-65s who saved only in Cash ISAs in 2023-24 and carried forward the government’s 22% for 2022-23, allowing for the share of all savers above the line rising from about 28% to 38.6% (the earlier figure uses HMRC’s older £12,500 band edge). Three reasonable ways of carrying that forward give 1.9 million to 2.3 million. Allowing for the caveats below widens the range to 1.5 million to 2.5 million, so we say about 2 million.

What to bear in mind

• The figures are for 2023-24. HMRC’s breakdown by amount lags a year behind its totals. Cash ISA payments rose again in 2024-25, to a provisional £95.6 billion, so the number above £12,000 may be higher now.
• They are estimates from a sample. HMRC builds these tables from a sample of savers, scaled up to its totals, and publishes no margins of error.
• HMRC’s totals do not fully add up. Multiplying the counts in each band by the band’s lowest amount gives at least £78.1 billion paid into Cash ISAs in 2023-24, against HMRC’s total of £69.5 billion. HMRC does not explain the gap; if the top bands are overstated, the true counts are lower, which is why our range starts at 1.5 million.
• Earlier years used different bands. Before 2023-24 the bands split at £12,500, not £12,000, so only the £20,000 figures compare like for like.
• These counts are people who saved only in Cash ISAs. Another 0.98 million paid into both a Cash ISA and a Stocks and Shares ISA; HMRC does not publish how much of their money went into cash.

What it means for you

Nothing changes: the Budget cancelled the cut, so the full £20,000 can still go into Cash ISAs, at any age. Alternatives to a Cash ISA sets out the other places savings can go, and the Cash ISA limit guide explains the decision.