Scrap cash ISAs to give every newborn a £1,000 investment grant, Chancellor John Healey is told

From the Newshound archive · first published 30 September 2026 · last updated 1 October 2026.

Investment platform IG is calling on Chancellor John Healey to eliminate cash ISAs altogether and use the freed-up tax relief to fund a £1,000 stocks and shares grant for every child born in the UK. The proposal comes as the government is already planning to cut the cash ISA limit to £12,000 for under-65s from April 2027. IG calculates that abolishing cash ISAs could bring in as much as £610 million a year in tax receipts by 2032-33, while the newborn grants would cost around £700 million annually.

Cash ISAs currently allow savers to deposit as much as £20,000 a year free of tax, with households channelling £48 billion into them in 2024-25 alone.

IG says existing cash ISA balances would retain their tax-free status — only new contributions would be prohibited under the plan.

Cash accounts for 64 per cent of all adult ISA subscriptions, far outstripping stocks and shares uptake — a trend IG says the scheme would help reverse.