HMRC wrapper passport
ISA Managers Guidance Cash CASH WRAP
#1/5 · £20,000 · FSCS
According to gov.uk Individual Savings Accounts guidance and HMRC ISA Manager Guidance Notes (2026/27 tax year). See methodology for full sourcing.
- ACCESS instant
- CAP 100%
- BOOK 5 wraps
- PHOTO IFISA
Nearest allowance peer: IFISA (£20,000)
According to PlainISA's HMRC ISA wrappers corpus, Cash ISA ranks #1 of 5 HMRC ISA wrappers by annual subscription allowance (highest GBP = #1) and #2 of 5 by HMRC government bonus value (highest bonus_cap_gbp, £0 when none = #1). This wrapper uses 100% of the £20,000 combined adult allowance. Best fit: Emergency fund, short-term savings, capital preservation. Not ideal for: Long-term wealth building. How we place wrappers → · Verify with HMRC →
Cash in the allowance neighbourhood
Annual subscription limit among this wrapper and nearest nationwide peers
Cash long-run performance
Annualised return by holding period, inflation-adjusted
Real (inflation-adjusted) annualised return over each trailing period, not a forecast. Past performance does not predict future returns. A negative value means the return trailed inflation over that period.
Cash vs the other wrapper we track, by horizon
Across every horizon we track for both wrappers, the lowest real return is UK Cash ISA (real, proxy) · 5y at -0.5% per year, and the highest is FTSE All-Share Total Return · 30y at 5% per year.
Real annualised return by holding period, both wrappers: UK Cash ISA (real, proxy) · 30y, 30 years, 0.4% real annualised return. UK Cash ISA (real, proxy) · 20y, 20 years, 0.3% real annualised return. UK Cash ISA (real, proxy) · 10y, 10 years, 0.1% real annualised return. UK Cash ISA (real, proxy) · 5y, 5 years, -0.5% real annualised return. FTSE All-Share Total Return · 30y, 30 years, 5% real annualised return. FTSE All-Share Total Return · 20y, 20 years, 4.6% real annualised return. FTSE All-Share Total Return · 10y, 10 years, 4.2% real annualised return. FTSE All-Share Total Return · 5y, 5 years, 4.2% real annualised return.
Rules at a glance
| Attribute | Cash ISA | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Annual allowance | £20,000 | gov.uk ISAs |
| Government bonus | None | HMRC ISA Manual |
| Age eligibility | 16+ | HMRC ISA Manager Guidance |
| Risk band | low | FCA Conduct of Business |
| Typical return | 4.5% | BoE Base Rate + median fixed-rate spread |
| FSCS protection | Protected up to £85,000 per banking authorisation | FSCS |
| Withdrawal rules | Variable: instant access typical. Fixed-rate accounts may forfeit interest on early withdrawal. | HMRC ISA Manual |
| Transfer rules | Transfer to any ISA type via receiving provider transfer form. | HMRC ISA Manual |
| Tax treatment | Interest, dividends, capital gains exempt from UK Income Tax and CGT | Income Tax Act 2007 s.694 |
Table sources: gov.uk Individual Savings Accounts, HMRC ISA Managers Guidance Notes, Income Tax Act 2007 s.694.
Full-cap peers beside Cash ISA
Cash ISA is FSCS-eligible deposit territory at allowance rank #1/5. Peer sets below split annual-limit neighbours from zero-bonus wrappers.
Similar annual allowance
Nearest wrappers by £20,000 subscription limit.
Similar HMRC bonus cap
Nearest wrappers by government bonus cap value (no HMRC bonus here).
Peers are nearest-neighbor matches across all 5 HMRC ISA wrappers in this database; corpus ranks above sort the full set.
Not financial advice - methodology · compare wrappers · HMRC source.