Autumn Statement 2023

In the Autumn Statement, the government announced ISA reform from the 6 April 2024.

Mandatory Change: increase of age eligibility

From 6 April 2024, there are changes in the ISA regulations around how old customers need to be to open a cash ISA:

To open a new cash ISA, customers need to be either 18 years of age or over or to be covered by the transitional arrangements for those aged 16 or 17 (as of the 5 April 2024) in place until 5 April 2026. ISA providers are not obliged to offer the transitional arrangements. M&S Bank will not allow customers under 18 to open a new cash ISA from the 6 April 2024 but will consider implementing in the future.

From 6 April 2024, customers aged 16 or 17 covered by the transitional arrangements can subscribe to a cash ISA but, up until they turn 18, they will not be able to subscribe to more than one cash ISA in the same tax year.

Where they hold an existing cash ISA, they can subscribe to this cash ISA (subject to this being the only cash ISA they subscribe to in a tax year up until they turn 18) or apply to transfer it to another provider (subject to that provider accepting it). M&S Bank will allow customers aged 16 and 17 who hold an existing cash ISA to subscribe to it.

We will also accept transfer in and out requests from other providers subject to the requirements of the transitional arrangements. Notably these state that where current tax year subscriptions are being transferred, these must be transferred in whole, not in part. This is to ensure compliance with the requirement mentioned above around those aged 16 or 17 not being able to subscribe to more than one cash ISA in the same tax year.

Optional Changes

The government also announced some optional changes outlined below:

Note: While we are not in a position to implement these changes from the 6 April 2024, we will consider implementing them in the future.

Partial transfers of subscriptions made in current tax year

Although the ISA regulations will allow customers to make partial transfers of current tax year subscriptions as of 6 April 2024 (2024/25 tax year), this will not be possible with us. If customers would like to transfer current tax year subscriptions into or out of an M&S Bank cash ISA, they must be transferred in full.

Subscribe to multiple ISAs of the same type

The maximum amount you can deposit in an ISA is subject to annual subscription limits. The annual subscription limit for tax year 2024/25 is £20,000. From 6 April 2024, for customers aged 18 and over, ISA regulations allow this to be saved in multiple cash ISAs, multiple stocks and shares ISAs, multiple innovative finance ISAs or up to £4,000 into one lifetime ISA with either the same or different providers in the same tax year. Customers aged 16 or 17 on 5 April 2024 will be able to subscribe to a single cash ISA in the same tax year.

M&S Bank does not offer innovative finance ISAs or lifetime ISAs. With M&S Bank, you can only subscribe to one M&S Bank cash ISA (this can be split across variable and fixed rate options) and one type of stocks and shares ISA in the same tax year.

Restart subscriptions to an existing ISA following a tax year with no subscriptions made

From the 6 April 2024, ISA regulations will allow you to restart subscriptions in this instance without making a fresh application. However, individual ISA providers are not obliged to accept subscriptions without first requiring an application. At M&S, we will still require an application before a customer can make subscriptions into their ISA.

While we are not in a position to implement these changes from the 6 April 2024, we will consider implementing them in the future.