To set up a Junior Cash ISA for a child, the parent or person with legal parental responsibility for the child will need to be identified. We also need the child’s original birth certificate, original NHS card or a certified copy of their passport. All certified copies must be in colour. We’ll return original documents by registered post. To help us verify the identity of customers opening an account we may make an electronic search, using the information you supply. In some instances we may need to ask you to send in further information or documents.

Certifiers must clearly write that they have seen the original document, and that the photograph, if applicable, represents a true likeness of the individual.  They must also include their full name, profession, business address, phone number and the date they certified the document.

The following people can certify documents for you:

•  Accountants (registered with either ICAEW, ICAS, CAI, ACCA, CIPFA or CIMA)
• Solicitors
• Post Office – a fee may be charged for using this service
• Bank staff (must include branch stamp)

A child may only hold one Junior cash ISA and one Junior stocks and shares ISA at any time and cannot hold a Junior ISA and a Child Trust Fund at the same time.

You can however apply to transfer a Junior ISA or a Child Trust Fund from one provider to another. You can also transfer between the different types of Junior ISA, in either direction.

• Transfers of current year’s subscriptions or transfers between the same type of Junior ISA must always be done in full.
• Partial transfers can only be done if they are previous years’ subscriptions and you are moving the subscriptions between different Junior ISA types e.g. Junior cash to Junior stocks and shares or Junior stocks and shares to Junior cash.

• The whole of the Child Trust Fund must be transferred and the Child Trust Fund subsequently closed.
• The annual subscription allowance for a Child Trust Fund is based on the child’s birth year while Junior ISA subscriptions are based on tax years. When a transfer of a Child Trust Fund to a Junior ISA has been made, the child can use the full Junior ISA subscription allowance for the tax year in which the transfer takes place regardless of any subscriptions made to the Child Trust Fund in that year. This only occurs in the tax year in which the Child Trust Fund is transferred, in subsequent years only the Junior ISA allowance can be used.

When your child becomes 16 they can become the Account operator and manage their own account if they want to.

From the age of 16, the account must be held in the name of the young person. We’ll be in touch at the time to let you know what you need to do.

Regardless of who put the money into the Junior Cash ISA, the money in the account belongs to the child. It is only the child that can make withdrawals once they turn 18.