What's the difference between a Cash JISA and a Stocks & Shares JISA?

A Cash JISA is typically held with a bank or building society, and is similar to a regular savings account you might be familiar with through your own bank. You'll typically receive a set interest rate on any money added.

With a Stocks & Shares JISA any money you add will be invested into the stock market, which gives you a chance to access higher returns for your child. But a Stocks & Shares JISA carries higher risk and the value may go down as well as up.

For both types of JISA any money added can't be withdrawn until your child reaches 18 when they'll then have access.

Can my child have more than one JISA?

You're allowed to have a maximum of one JISA of each type, i.e. 1x Cash JISA and 1x Stocks & Shares JISA.

Please be aware that the JISA allowance includes any money you add across both of these JISAs in the same tax year. It's your responsibility to make sure you don't exceed the JISA allowance.

My child has a Child Trust Fund, what do I do?

Child Trust Funds (CTF) are tax-efficient savings accounts which parents could open for their kids between 2002 and 2011. They've since been replaced by JISAs.

Your child cannot have a JISA and a Child Trust Fund (CTF) at the same time. But we can help you with this by transferring the CTF into a CIRCA5000 JISA. Check out the article "My child has a JISA elsewhere, how can I transfer it to CIRCA5000?" for more information on this.