How to switch your stocks & shares isa.
Someone paying more than ~0.20% in platform feesPlatform feeWhat an investment platform (Vanguard, HL, AJ Bell, Trading 212, etc.) charges for holding your investments. Quoted as a % of balance or a flat £/year. Sits on top of the fund's own fees (the OCF). on a long-term buy-and-hold portfolio. What follows is illustrative — the sequence a typical switch goes through, and the parts the receiving provider handles for you.
The typical sequence.
- 01
Open an S&S ISA at a lower-fee platform.
- 02
Initiate an in-specie transferIn-specie transferMoving investments between providers without selling them. Your funds and shares come across as-is, so you stay invested the whole time. Standard mechanic for ISA and SIPP transfers. via the new platform’s transfer form. Existing investments move without selling — no tax event, no time out of market.
- 03
The old platform processes the transfer (typically 4–8 weeks). Investments arrive in the new account.
- 04
Any rebalancing happens at the new platform once the holdings land.
Gotchas.
- !Some platforms only accept fund/ETF transfers, not individual stocks. Worth checking before initiating.
- !FCA rules cap the transfer window at 6 weeks. Older platforms occasionally drag — chasing helps if it slips.
- !Selling and transferring cash leaves the money out of market for weeks. In-specieIn-specie transferMoving investments between providers without selling them. Your funds and shares come across as-is, so you stay invested the whole time. Standard mechanic for ISA and SIPP transfers. avoids that.
- !Trading 212’s free S&S ISA earns from a small FX spread (~0.15% on non-GBP trades) and securities lending. For buy-and-hold of GBP-denominated funds it’s effectively free; for active US-stock trading the spread compounds.
Who Feefee compares.
- Trading 212Free
Free S&S ISA — no platform, dealing or custody fee. Pays 3.8% on uninvested GBP cash (via QMMF — Qualifying Money Market Fund, NOT FSCS-protected as cash). Cash ISA standard 3.60% AER (BoE base − 0.15%); 12-month new-customer promo at 4.51% drops to standard after. SIPP now generally available and free of platform, custody and dealing fees (Trading 212 operates the pension itself since its Feb 2026 FCA authorisation — no operator/trustee fee); 0.15% FX applies on non-GBP trades. "Free" is funded by four less-visible levers: (1) 0.15% FX fee + an undisclosed FX spread on every non-GBP trade, (2) securities-lending revenue (~50/50 split with you, opt-out in settings), (3) net interest margin on uninvested QMMF cash (you get the QMMF yield; Trading 212 keeps the spread between underlying and what's passed on), and (4) CFD bid/ask spreads + overnight financing on the CFD side of the business — which is where most of Trading 212's £277m+ 2025 revenue actually came from. UK best-execution rules block a discretionary mark-up on Invest/ISA share trades, but execution quality is a real, hard-to-audit lever. Trading 212 publicly states no PFOF.
- Plum£2.99 / month
Free Cash ISA tier: 2.54% standard (4.31% incl. 12-month bonus). Transfer-in promo rate 4.20% also boosted. S&S requires Plus subscription.
- Vanguard UK0.15% / year (min £48) (capped £375)
0.15% per year, minimum £48/yr (£4/month floor under ~£32k balance), capped at £375/year above ~£250k. Vanguard funds only. Pays ~3.10% on uninvested cash via their Sterling Short-Term MMF (down from ~4% — followed BoE cuts).
- Interactive Investor · Core£5.99 / month
II's entry plan (relaunched Feb 2026) — £5.99/month for one ISA OR SIPP under £100k balance, one free trade per month. Best II tier for smaller pots or single-wrapper users.
- Interactive Investor · Plus£14.99 / month
Standard II plan (relaunched Feb 2026) — £14.99/month covers ISA + SIPP + trading account, one free trade per month. Wins on cost above ~£100k total.
- Interactive Investor · Premium£39.99 / month
II Premium (Feb 2026) — £39.99/month, includes Friends & Family (up to 5 family members on one fee). Wins on cost at very large balances or where family-pooling matters.
- AJ Bell Dodl0.15% / year (min £12)
0.15% on all balances, £1/month minimum, no cap. App-first, simplified fund range.
- AJ Bell0.25% → 0.00% (3-tier)
Full-fat AJ Bell. SIPP and ISA funds: 0.25% to £250k, 0.10% £250k–£500k, 0% above £500k. SHARE accounts capped separately: £3.50/month ISA, £10/month SIPP — flat-equivalent above ~£17k–£48k in shares, so the headline 0.25% materially overstates cost for share-heavy portfolios. Dealing fees: £1.50 funds, £5.00 shares (£3.50 frequent-trader). More fund choice than Dodl.
- Hargreaves Lansdown0.35% → 0.00% (4-tier)
Premium platform with research + customer service. Tiered platform fee (cut 1 March 2026): 0.35% to £250k → 0.25% to £1m → 0.10% to £2m → 0% above. Funds only — stocks have separate dealing fees (never more than £6.95 per trade). LISA: 0.25% a year on funds up to £1m (0.10% £1m–£2m, 0% above); LISA shares charged 0.25% capped at £3.75/month. Uninvested cash rates tiered since 10 Jun 2026 — entry tiers: 1.31% ISA, 2.02% SIPP, 1.41% LISA, 1.06% Fund & Share; larger balances earn more (up to 2.63% on SIPP, 2.17% on ISA).
- Fidelity Personal Investing0.35% → 0.00% (3-tier)
Mid-fee platform, decent fund range. 0.35% on funds tier 1, falls to 0.20% £250k–£1m, 0% above £1m. Shares/ETFs capped separately at £90/year, with a £90 minimum service fee on share-heavy accounts (so the fee can exceed funds-equivalent for small share holdings). Stock/ETF dealing £7.50/trade. SIPP drawdown setup £25 + VAT. Junior wrappers free.
- InvestEngineFree
Free DIY ISA AND DIY SIPP — zero platform fee since Dec 2025. Managed portfolios 0.25%. ETF-focused.
- Moneybox£1.00 / month + 0.45% / year
App-first, friendly UX. ISA/LISA 0.45% + £1/month (waived with £5k+ in Cash ISA/Simple Saver; first 3 months of the subscription free for new customers). SIPP: Moneybox Funds 0.15%/year capped at £150/yr; other funds 0.45% to £100k, 0.15% above, no subscription. Simple Saver 2.40% AER underlying (3.40% with the conditional reward). Expensive on small invested pots; cheaper on larger SIPPs.
- St. James's Place1.59% / year
Adviser-led firm. Restructured fees August 2025 for new clients: roughly 1.6–1.7% ongoing total — 0.8% advice + 0.27–0.35% product + ~0.52% fund cost. Exit fees abolished on new investments. Pre-Aug-2025 clients remain on legacy structure (~1.9% with 6-year exit charges).
- True Potential1.64% / year
Adviser-led firm. 1.64% all-in per True Potential's own £120k worked example (£1,968/year): 0.40% platform + 0.74% typical fund + 0.50% ongoing advice. Bundled adviser remuneration tied to placement on the True Potential platform. Compare to flat-fee DIY (HL, II Plus, AJ Bell) before signing.
- Quilter / Openwork1.40% / year
Quilter / Openwork IFA platform. 1.40% headline is platform + advice; underlying fund cost adds 0.30–1.00% depending on the recommended portfolio — true all-in typically 1.7–2.4%. Quilter is the platform; Openwork is the adviser network — same group, technically separate entities. Bundled adviser remuneration similar to SJP / True Potential pattern.
- Other / not listed—
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