Best junior investment Isas: Best JISA 2026

What is a junior investment Isa?

A junior investment Isa can be used to buy and hold shares, funds and other types of investment, without incurring tax

Parents and guardians can set up a junior Isa (Jisa) for their kids, provided they’re under the age of 18 and live in the UK. You can then invest up to £9,000 each financial year, and any growth of the money you put in – whether that’s interest or investment returns – will be tax-free. The £9,000 doesn’t come out of or diminish your £20,000 Isa allowance.

Once you put money in a Junior Isa, it officially belongs to your child and can’t be accessed by anyone else. When your child turns 16, they can manage their own account online, but they can’t access the money until they turn 18 – at which point the junior Isa rolls automatically into an adult Isa.

Where can I find the best junior investment Isa?

You can open a junior investment Isa with an investment platform – a company that allows you to buy investments. 

Here we’ve listed some of the investment platforms that offer junior Isas, how much they charge and the minimum investment.

You can read our guide to the best investment platforms in the UK to see which offer the best stocks and shares Isa.

Platforms to consider for junior investment Isas

These platforms were highly rated for their stocks and shares Isas and also offer junior Isas, although we haven’t reviewed these specifically.

What to look for in a junior Investment Isa

Before you pick an investment platform for your junior Isa, it’s important to familiarise yourself with the following:

• Fees These apply whether the investments do well or not, so aim to keep them low
• Choice of funds Depending on your expertise, you may only need the dozen or so funds offered by some platforms, which could have lower fees. Or you might want access to the thousands of funds, stocks, trusts and more from across the globe offered by others.
• Investing tips Some platforms will also have lists of recommended funds, investment news, tips, live price charts, calculators and more to help you pick investments. Others may provide less information and fewer tools to you.

You can read our individual investment platform reviews to get an idea of what’s on offer.

• Find out more: Best investment platforms in the UK

Why should you get a junior investment Isa?

Investing in a junior investment Isa has three main advantages:

1. Returns are tax-free
2. The money can only be accessed by your child and not until they’re 18
3. Investing could result in your child ending up with far more money than from cash Isas or savings accounts

The disadvantage is that some or all of the money you’re saving for your child could be lost if investments don’t perform well.

You’ll also have to pay a small fee to the junior investment Isa provider.

‘Why junior investment Isas have the edge over junior cash Isas’

Josh Wilson, Which? investments writer, says:

While a cash Isa and investment Isa will offer you the same tax-free benefits, there can be a big difference in the returns you get back.

Over the long term, investing can achieve a higher return than a regular cash junior Isa if the investments perform well. For example, assuming 5% annual growth, investing the full £9,000 every year would net your child £265,851 by their 18th birthday.

Investing in a junior investment Isa gives you a chance to not only match inflation but even outpace it. 

If you invest the money you put aside, you have more control over what the money does. For example, you might want to invest in projects aiming to have a positive impact on the world your child will grow up in, which you could do through ethical investing.

A child can have both types of junior Isa, but the most they can save is still subject to the £9,000 limit.

• Support your growing family: Our expert advice can help you make the right choices, from improving your home to planning your finances.

Junior investment Isas vs premium bonds

The popular choice of premium bonds as a gift for a child – while also tax-free – struggles to match the returns of both cash and investment junior Isas. 

If you invested £500 in the premium bonds for your child when they’re born, in most cases, they would win nothing in most years they’re invested, and winning just the odd £25 here and there.

Whereas if you put £500 into a junior investment Isa for a newborn, you could end up leaving them nearly double what you put in – more than £970 by the time they can access it, assuming 4% growth of their investments each year. 

• Find out more: ways to save for your children.

Is a junior investment Isa risky?

All investing involves the risk of losing money, although you can manage these risks.

When you open a junior Isa, you’ll be asked to choose the investments for it. Some investments, such as company shares, are more volatile than others, such as bonds (although they also have more potential for growth). 

We’ve got plenty of guides to help you pick investments and a financial adviser can also help. 

Some providers, such as Moneyfarm and Wealthify, will pick an investment for you based on a questionnaire you fill out.

Given that your money could stay invested for up to 18 years if you set a junior Isa up soon after your child is born, you’ll be able to hold out through dips in the value of your investments and have a better chance at turning a generous profit.

Ultimately, you need to be comfortable with the very real possibility that you’d get no profit at all or even lose the money you invested in the first place. If that doesn’t sit right with you, you might be better off with a junior cash Isa.

• Find out more: a beginner’s guide to how to invest

Can a grandparent open a junior Isa?

If you’re a grandparent, you can’t open a junior Isa for your grandchildren – unless you’re the child’s legal guardian – but you can make contributions up to the £9,000 annual limit each year. 

The £9,000 limit applies to the total payments made by all people depositing money into the junior Isa, so check with the child’s parents how much has been put in already this financial year, so your money doesn’t bounce back to you. 

The limit is per child, so if you have several grandchildren, you can contribute up to this amount for each grandchild each year.

Only the parent or guardian who invested (or the child themselves when they turn 16) can control the investments in the account, so grandparents can’t decide where their money goes.

If you’re interested in helping children and grandchildren, read our guide to inheritance tax planning and tax-free gifts.

Can you transfer junior Isas?

You can also transfer between junior Isa providers, as long as the new provider accepts transfers. 

To do this, you’ll need to transfer all your junior Isa investments from previous years.

Don’t just shut down the account and move the money yourself, as you’ll lose all the tax-free benefits of the savings you’ve made.

You can find out more about investment Isa transfers here. 

What happens to a junior Isa at 18?

When your child turns 18, the Isa account gets automatically rolled over into an adult Isa.

From this point, they have control over the account and the funds it contains. They could choose to leave it invested or withdraw it and spend it as they please.