To open a KidSave Junior ISA, you must be over 18 and a parent or legal guardian of the child for whom you wish to open the account. The child must be a UK permanent resident aged under 16. We do not accept applications from US citizens.
If the child has an existing stocks & shares Junior ISA or Child Trust Fund, you must transfer it to KidSave as HMRC rules do not allow children to have more than one. It is simple to do: we will ask you to confirm details of the existing account and will then handle the transfer.
The annual contribution limit is £9,000 for 2020/21. Any contributions over this limit (or accounts where the child becomes ineligible for a Junior ISA for any reason) may at our discretion be invested through a general investment account (GIA) designated for the child until there is room in the tax free contribution limit in a following tax year. (The GIA does not have any tax benefits and any income and capital gains may be liable to personal tax).
Unlike many Stocks & Shares Junior ISAs, we have no minimum contribution limit. After you have applied, we will open the KidSave Junior ISA when we receive the first contribution which can come from:
- KidStart Savings earned by you on your shopping through KidStart
- one-off or regular contributions from you; and/or
- one-off or regular contributions from others, such as grandparents, that you invite.
Prior to their 18th birthday, we will contact the child through you to advise that they will become the owner of the Junior ISA and can access the savings as they see fit. On the child’s 18th birthday, the Junior ISA automatically converts into an adult ISA and the child will become legally entitled to manage the account. We will explain to the child how they can take over the account at that point.
Under HMRC rules, money cannot be withdrawn before the child’s 18th birthday except in the case of the child’s death or a terminal illness.
KidSave has a simple and inexpensive fee structure, which consists of:
- An annual management fee equal to 0.5% of the value of the KidSave account
- The funds we offer have annual charges deducted from the funds themselves of 0.12-0.15%
More details on charging are available in the terms and conditions; for example we may charge for paper copies of statements.
Please refer to our complete KidSave FAQs for more information.