UK ISA Guide
Investment rules
The ISA investment rules are broken down for each investment
component as follows:
Stocks and shares component
Almost call unit trusts, OEICs, FSA-recognised UCITS funds
and UK-listed investment trusts are eligible for ISAs. Direct
investment may be made in shares listed on any recognised
stock exchange. EEA government bonds and fixed interest
securities of companies listed on any recognised exchange
with more than five years to redemption are also eligible.
Cash is an eligible investment, but only for future investment
- it cannot simply be left uninvested in a stocks and shares
ISA.
The main exclusions are bonds with under five years to
redemption, cash, quasi-cash funds and property funds.
Cash component
The eligible investments are building society and bank deposits,
money market funds which hold cash rather than short-dated
securities and ISA-eligible National Savings products, excluding
Savings Certificates.
Insurance component
A special ISA-only life policy is the only eligible investment,
other than cash to meet future premiums. The policy must
be a life assurance contract on the life of the ISA investor
alone, but may offer subsidiary health-related benefits
such as critical illness cover. It cannot be a pension or
an annuity and must terminate automatically if it ceases
to be held in an ISA.
The rules of ISAs allow you to change, within the same
ISA component, from one savings product or investment to
a different one whenever and as often as you require. Should
you wish to include new investment or savings opportunities
that are not provided from your current ISA manager then
you may have to transfer you money to another manager.
