JUNIOR ISA's

wiggyakashalot

Hey all,
i have been researching all night and i'm a little confused what i am allowed to do and not allowed to do 
A few weeks into lockdown my partner moved in with me and my two children (one of which are his). And i joined his UC claim as it was obviously change of circumstances.
Now, I want to open a Junior ISA for both boys for family to pay into regularly; and a one off large payment for each off my mother from her house sale (which is finally going through) - she wants to gift it to them.
As i am aware my savings can not be over 6k and as one of my boys is disabled its likely i'm not working anytime soon. So to avoid them loosing their own money i thought ISA's would be best.

I am aware you can only open one per child and one per tax year. so here are the questions i still have:
1) Can i Open one from my Eldest and my partner Open another for his child in the same year when we are both at the same address?
2) Can i open them whilst on UC?
3) Do i have to announce said ISA's to UC as i open them?
4) And of course although it is with the best intentions will it look like i am trying to hide capitol? (although i am a carer in council rented property had have none)

any advice greatly appreciated 

bowlhead99

wiggyakashalot said:

I am aware you can only open one per child and one per tax year. so here are the questions i still have:
1) Can i Open one from my Eldest and my partner Open another for his child in the same year when we are both at the same address?

It is a maximum of one account of each type (Cash JISA or S&S JISA) per child not an account per household. There is no problem with two children having an account each

2) Can i open them whilst on UC?

The fact that you are on UC does not affect your child being allowed to have an account

3) Do i have to announce said ISA's to UC as i open them?

They are not your accounts, they are your children's accounts

4) And of course although it is with the best intentions will it look like i am trying to hide capitol? (although i am a carer in council rented property had have none)

You have said the money is coming from family and your mother's house sale and is not your capital as you have none. So, you are not trying to hide your capital.

chapelle

Updating the above helpful discussion, is this past Monday's NS&I (including their Jr ISA) interest-rate-slash announcement. MSE's prediction that banks/BSs will follow, suggests to me that our CTF with Nationwide BS, will drop further, after the two-months' notice period (just started) down from 1% currently, to possibly almost nothing in November. Can MSE offer advice whether the government might move, hopefully soon, to make an exception for CTF/Junior-ISA holders to be permitted to transfer to NON CTF/Jr-ISA accounts, allowing for locking into better fixed-interest rates for these otherwise disadvantaged children's accounts? Current rules are that CTF/Jr-ISAs can only be closed [before the child reaching 18 or being terminally ill] if transferred to another CTF/Jr-ISA with another provider, but cannot be stopped and funds withdrawn. I believe that ALL CTF/Jr-ISA accounts are variable-rate, therefore likely to drop their rates soon in line with the above, and NOT worth the bother of transferring to? My child is severely disabled, age 16 but not terminally ill. Thanks.

eskbanker

Seems highly unlikely to me that lower interest rates will result in a relaxation of JISA or CTF rules to allow early access, and, while JISA rates may well reduce, the leading products are still way ahead of what can be earned in fixed rate adult ISAs.

chapelle

Apologies if I was unclear. I mean (if possible) to lock into a fixed-rate such as those suggested by MSE at the moment eg. Tandem, not necessarily limiting myself to ISAs. My Personal Savings Allowance will allow earning of interest upto £1000pa tax free so whether or not an account is an ISA is not important (to me). What is important to me, is the fixed (vs. variable) lock-in at the best rate. Thanks.

Bossworld

chapelle said:

Updating the above helpful discussion, is this past Monday's NS&I (including their Jr ISA) interest-rate-slash announcement. MSE's prediction that banks/BSs will follow, suggests to me that our CTF with Nationwide BS, will drop further, after the two-months' notice period (just started) down from 1% currently, to possibly almost nothing in November. Can MSE offer advice whether the government might move, hopefully soon, to make an exception for CTF/Junior-ISA holders to be permitted to transfer to NON CTF/Jr-ISA accounts, allowing for locking into better fixed-interest rates for these otherwise disadvantaged children's accounts? Current rules are that CTF/Jr-ISAs can only be closed [before the child reaching 18 or being terminally ill] if transferred to another CTF/Jr-ISA with another provider, but cannot be stopped and funds withdrawn. I believe that ALL CTF/Jr-ISA accounts are variable-rate, therefore likely to drop their rates soon in line with the above, and NOT worth the bother of transferring to? My child is severely disabled, age 16 but not terminally ill. Thanks.

I'm replying here to avoid starting a new thread.
Both of my kids had Halifax Junior ISAs.  In the beginning, my eldest's was worth 4% a year in interest as I also held an adult ISA with Halifax.  Nigh on impossible to find confirmation on that online, as it has to be managed in branch, but I dug out an old letter.  Regardless, it seemed that top-up has stopped.

Wasn't sure if my youngest's was eligible for it, but either way, a couple of months back I had a letter advising both were going down from 3% to 2.45%.

What's followed has been 8 weeks of red tape trying to get them across to NS&I.  Filled in everything online, looked like it would go through in the same way as a current account switch but it's entailed paper letters confirming approval to make the move, going in branch to verify passports with Halifax (having already done this with NS&I), and it's still not all been transferred.  I've had a letter from Halifax showing that my youngest's ISA has been emptied (presumably for the transfer), but nothing's showing on NS&I's site.

NS&I have now obviously dropped the rate.  I'm assuming that Halifax will do the same otherwise I've completely wasted two months of my life.

eskbanker

chapelle said:

Apologies if I was unclear. I mean (if possible) to lock into a fixed-rate such as those suggested by MSE at the moment eg. Tandem, not necessarily limiting myself to ISAs. My Personal Savings Allowance will allow earning of interest upto £1000pa tax free so whether or not an account is an ISA is not important (to me). What is important to me, is the fixed (vs. variable) lock-in at the best rate. Thanks.

Yes, I got that you were referring to shifting money right out of CTF/JISA into any other sort of account, but my point was that any form of relaxing the rules, even to transfer to other ISAs, is unlikely enough, but complete withdrawal to non-ISAs is even less likely - you may downplay the significance of ISAs but JISAs have always been issued on the basis that money is locked in until 18.

I was highlighting currently competitive JISA rates to emphasise that holders of these accounts are still in a relatively good position in terms of interest rates (therefore less motivation for the government to change the rules), but as you say they've generally been variable so it's always been the case that JISA holders have to be prepared to shop around to maintain best rates....

chapelle

I have been doing similar attempts with NS&I since April! Good to hear about your experience (for solidarity) and I totally empathise!

So this is why we could all use a way to transfer CTF/Jr-ISAs to a locked-in (not necessarily ISA) rate now.

We would be grateful if MSE could obtain communication from the government/relevant body about what can be done, as a whole generation of children's accounts are affected? Thank you.

refluxer

Bossworld said:

What's followed has been 8 weeks of red tape trying to get them across to NS&I.  Filled in everything online, looked like it would go through in the same way as a current account switch but it's entailed paper letters confirming approval to make the move, going in branch to verify passports with Halifax (having already done this with NS&I), and it's still not all been transferred.  I've had a letter from Halifax showing that my youngest's ISA has been emptied (presumably for the transfer), but nothing's showing on NS&I's site.

NS&I have now obviously dropped the rate.  I'm assuming that Halifax will do the same otherwise I've completely wasted two months of my life.

I've not long transferred a Yorkshire BS Child Trust Fund into an NS&I Junior ISA and there was definitely some down-time between the CTF closing and the Junior ISA appearing in my NS&I account - I can't remember exactly, but it was maybe up to a week or so ? The whole process was a lot easier for me (just a signature required for the Yorkshire) but still took a while. Being an existing NS&I customer presumably simplified things.

When I phoned to chase things up midway through the process, the guy at NS&I explained that they don't make the ISA visible at their end until the process is fully complete, due to the fact that kids can only have one Junior ISA (or CTF) at a time - it's to stop you paying in new cash to the new account before the old one is fully closed and the transfer is complete.

I feel your pain with the NS&I news this week. In my case, even the reduced NS&I rate (1.5%) will be better than the CTF was paying (1%), but I will look to switch if the higher rates currently offered from the likes of Tesco or Halifax (!) don't drop (I expect they will).

Bossworld

refluxer said:

Bossworld said:

What's followed has been 8 weeks of red tape trying to get them across to NS&I.  Filled in everything online, looked like it would go through in the same way as a current account switch but it's entailed paper letters confirming approval to make the move, going in branch to verify passports with Halifax (having already done this with NS&I), and it's still not all been transferred.  I've had a letter from Halifax showing that my youngest's ISA has been emptied (presumably for the transfer), but nothing's showing on NS&I's site.

NS&I have now obviously dropped the rate.  I'm assuming that Halifax will do the same otherwise I've completely wasted two months of my life.

I've not long transferred a Yorkshire BS Child Trust Fund into an NS&I Junior ISA and there was definitely some down-time between the CTF closing and the Junior ISA appearing in my NS&I account - I can't remember exactly, but it was maybe up to a week or so ? The whole process was a lot easier for me (just a signature required for the Yorkshire) but still took a while. Being an existing NS&I customer presumably simplified things.

When I phoned to chase things up midway through the process, the guy at NS&I explained that they don't make the ISA visible at their end until the process is fully complete, due to the fact that kids can only have one Junior ISA (or CTF) at a time - it's to stop you paying in new cash to the new account before the old one is fully closed and the transfer is complete.

I feel your pain with the NS&I news this week. In my case, even the reduced NS&I rate (1.5%) will be better than the CTF was paying (1%), but I will look to switch if the higher rates currently offered from the likes of Tesco or Halifax (!) don't drop (I expect they will).

Thank you that's reassuring to know your experience.  I've had premium bonds with them for years so not sure why it's been so drawn out but hoping to get the equivalent Halifax closure letter for my eldest's account soon.  No real good reason for them to be spaced out seeing as the docs were submitted in branch at the same time.

Bossworld

Went back into branch and it's just ping-ponged between NS&I and Halifax.  Looks like it's down to NS&I to re-request the transfer.

Just hoping that it'll be easier to shift it elsewhere in the future.