Who can open and pay into a Junior ISA?

Junior ISAs are a great way to jumpstart your child’s financial future in an effective, tax-free way. They let you squirrel away money without paying tax on any interest and/or capital gains you earn.

Parents or legal guardians are the only people who can open a Junior ISA. Then, they become a registered contact on the account. 

Your child will also have to meet a few requirements:

• Be under the age of 18.
• Born on or after the 3rd of January 2011 or do not have a Child Trust Fund (CTF) account.
• They must be a UK resident, a UK crown servant, be married to or in a civil partnership with a crown servant or be the dependant of a crown servant. ^{Footnote [1]}  

There are two different types of ISA you can open for your child.

• A Junior Cash ISA
• A Junior Stocks & Shares ISA 

When it comes to picking which one works best for you and your child, there are two main differences between them.

• Junior Cash ISA – similar to a savings account, the money you put in there has an interest rate which may vary.
• Junior Stocks & Shares ISA – these are investment products, where your money will be invested into financial markets with the aim to earn returns.

You can have one of each of these products for your child, and the annual allowance can be split between the two in any way you would like. But make sure that it doesn’t exceed that amount in any tax year. 

The current Junior ISA allowance for the 2024/25 tax year is £9,000.  

If you're thinking about opening a Junior Stocks & Shares ISA, check out Wealthify and their JISA.

To open a Junior ISA, it helps to research different providers to get a well-rounded idea of what they offer. You could consider things like investment opportunities, charges, and the type of ISA you want to open for your child. 

If this doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, then you can employ a financial adviser to do it for you. They’ll be able to open and continuously manage the ISA to try and maximise any investment gains, or simply find the right one for you. You may have to pay for advice.

But with any investment, it’s worth noting that your value can go down as well as up, and you might get back less than you put in.

Anyone! You can invite anyone to contribute, from the child’s grandparents all the way to the postman. Once they go through verification, then they’ll be able to start adding funds to your child’s ISA. The only requirement is that they’re a UK tax resident and over the age of 18.

If you already have a Junior ISA or a Child Trust Fund and you want to transfer them to another provider, you can do this. When you’ve decided upon a new provider for your child’s ISA, you’ll need to contact them to get the ball rolling. You won't be able to have a Junior ISA and a Child Trust Fund at the same time.

It’s worth noting, however, if you want to transfer a Child Trust Fund into a Junior ISA you will need to transfer the whole amount. But this won’t impact your child’s allowance for the year, so you could transfer their Trust Fund and still contribute their full amount of allowance.