The cardinal rule of moving an ISA between providers is never withdraw and re-deposit. The moment money leaves the wrapper it loses its tax-free status, and re-depositing it eats into your annual allowance. The formal ISA transfer process keeps the wrapper intact, doesn’t touch your allowance, and is the only correct way to move an ISA.
This article walks through how it actually works in 2026—timelines, the difference between cash and in-specie transfers, and what to do when (not if) the old provider drags its feet.
The two kinds of transfer
Two ways to move an ISA between providers:
- Cash transfer. Your old provider sells your investments, sends the cash, and your new provider lets you buy fresh investments. Faster but you are “out of the market” briefly.
- In specie (or “stock”) transfer. Your existing holdings are re-registered in the name of the new provider’s nominee, without selling. Slower but you stay invested.
Use cash transfer if your old provider only holds funds your new provider doesn’t support, or if you intend to consolidate into different funds anyway.
Use in specie if you want to keep the same investments—particularly if you have held them long enough that being out of the market for a few weeks would matter.
Step-by-step: how to do it
Step 1: open the new ISA
Open an ISA with your destination provider before doing anything else. You cannot transfer into an account that does not exist yet.
Step 2: complete the transfer-in form
Every UK platform has an “ISA transfer in” form. It will ask for:
- Your current provider’s name.
- Your current account or reference number.
- Whether to transfer cash or in specie.
- Whether to transfer this year’s contributions, prior years’, or both.
- A signed declaration.
Do not start the process from your old provider’s side. The HMRC rules are clear that the receiving provider initiates the transfer; the old provider responds rather than acts on its own.
Step 3: wait
Once the receiving provider has the form, they contact your old provider. The old provider must:
- For cash transfers: complete within 30 calendar days of receiving the request (HMRC rule).
- For in-specie transfers: there is no statutory deadline, but industry practice is 4–8 weeks.
You don’t need to do anything during this period. Both providers will email you confirmations as the funds and holdings move.
Step 4: confirm and reconcile
Once the new provider tells you the transfer is complete, log in and check:
- The cash or holdings arrived in full.
- The cost basis is correct (in-specie transfers usually carry the original purchase data through; cash transfers reset cost basis on whatever you newly buy).
- Any income distributions in flight—a fund paying a dividend mid-transfer can result in a small residual amount that lands later, which providers usually handle automatically.
What to transfer: this year vs prior years
Since April 2024 you can transfer:
- Prior-year ISAs in part or whole.
- Current-year contributions in part or whole, but only as a single block to a single new provider in any one go.
Before 2024 you had to move all of this year’s contributions at once and could not split them. The new rule means you can fine-tune your platform mix mid-year without waiting for a clean April reset.
What can go wrong
Three failure modes, in roughly decreasing order of frequency.
The old provider sits on the request
The 30-day rule applies to cash transfers between stocks and shares ISA providers. If the deadline is missed, you can complain to your old provider, then escalate to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) at no cost.
In practice, a polite phone call to the old provider’s transfer team, referencing the 30-day rule, usually unsticks things within a week. The Ombudsman is the lever rather than the first move.
A fund isn’t supported by the new provider
If your portfolio includes a fund your new provider doesn’t sell, an in-specie transfer cannot move that line. You’ll be asked to either sell it (turning that line into cash) or pick a different platform.
Check this before opening the new account—most platforms publish a fund-search tool, and a five-minute look saves a fortnight of back-and-forth.
Charges on the way out
A handful of platforms still charge transfer-out fees, typically £10–£25 per holding line. For a portfolio of 10 funds, that is £100–£250 to leave. Worth checking the old provider’s fee schedule before you start.
If the destination platform is competing for transfers, they may offer cashback that more than covers exit fees—Hargreaves Lansdown, AJ Bell, and Interactive Investor all run such offers periodically.
Transferring out from a workplace ISA or robo-adviser
The same rules apply. Robo-advisers (Nutmeg, Moneyfarm, Wealthify) hold their own portfolios that are not available on DIY platforms—meaning you’ll need a cash transfer if you are switching, since the underlying holdings cannot move in specie.
Workplace ISAs are vanishingly rare in the UK (most employer benefits go into pensions instead). If you have one, the same process applies; HR is usually not involved.
A practical checklist
Before you start a transfer:
- New ISA opened and verified.
- Confirm new provider supports your current funds (for in-specie).
- Check old provider’s transfer-out fees.
- Decide cash vs in-specie based on time-out-of-market tolerance.
- Submit the transfer-in form to the new provider.
Then leave it alone for 30 days (cash) or 6–8 weeks (in-specie). Email reminders to the old provider after the deadline if needed.
When not to transfer
Two cases where staying put is right:
- Your old provider has a meaningfully better product feature you would lose—a niche fund, a built-in advice service, an inherited APS allowance.
- You are already paying competitive fees and the savings do not justify the friction.
For most readers paying 0.45% to a legacy provider while a 0.15% alternative exists, the maths is straightforward. Transferring once and forgetting about it is one of the highest-return half-hours of admin in personal finance.
For a comparison of cheaper platforms, see the best stocks and shares ISA platforms 2026.
Frequently asked questions
- How long does an ISA transfer take?
HMRC rules require cash transfers between stocks and shares ISA providers to complete within 30 calendar days. In-specie transfers (where holdings move without selling) typically take 4–8 weeks because each fund line is moved separately by the registrar.
- Can I transfer part of an ISA?
Yes. You can transfer all or part of current-year contributions and previous-year ISAs. Since April 2024 the rule that previous-year ISAs had to be transferred whole was relaxed, which makes mid-year platform mixing far more flexible than it used to be.
- Will I lose my ISA allowance if I transfer?
No. The formal ISA transfer process keeps your wrapper intact and does not use any of your annual allowance. Withdrawing and re-depositing—instead of transferring—does use allowance, which is the central trap to avoid.
