Future Isa millionaires: Number of kids with Junior Isa pots value greater than £200,000 doubles

The number of children sitting on Junior Isa pots worth six figures has more than doubled in a year, as they reap the benefits from saving and investing early.

Junior Isas can be opened by the parents or guardians of children under the age of 18. The annual allowance is £9,000 and, as with adult Isas, money kept in a Junior Isa is free from tax.

Those with pots worth more than £100,000 jumped from 1,080 in the 2022/23 tax year to 2,250 in 2023/24.

And children with more than £200,000 in their Junior Isa increased to 90, according to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to HMRC by NFU mutual. 

It marks a jump from the 50 children who held the same amount in the previous year.

The data also shows that the number of children with junior Isas containing £90,000 or more doubled to 4,070 in 2023-24, the latest figures available, up from 1,760 in 2022-23, according to the FOI.

Future millionaires? The number of children with £200k in their Jisa has doubled

The current figure is likely to be even higher as elevated interest rates raise the rates offered in cash Jisas, while strong equity markets will have bolstered returns in junior stocks and shares Isas.

A separate FOI request by financial planners Murphy Wealth found that the 25 highest value Jisas in Britain now hold an average of nearly £400,000 each.

Jisas were introduced in 2011 as a replacement for child trust funds and allow parents to set aside money for their children until they reach 18.

The amount parents have added to the savings vehicle has soared after years of low interest rates.

And NFU Mutual suggests that more parents and grandparents are looking at ways to gift money following the government’s inheritance tax shake-up, which will see unspent pensions pulled into the net from April 2027.

Chris Hood, personal finance expert at NFU Mutual, which offers stocks and shares junior Isas, says: ‘Parents and grandparents are increasingly looking at junior Isas as a tax-efficient way to invest for a child’s future – particularly as they are considering the implications of inheritance tax changes.’

Around 1.37million accounts were subscribed to in 2023/24, up from 1.25million in the previous year, with £1.8billion put in, 36.4 per cent of which was in cash.

‘Junior Isas are a great way to help save for a house deposit or university fees in a tax-efficient environment, but many families are missing out on potentially higher long-term returns by sticking with cash-based junior Isas rather than investing in a stocks and shares ISA,’ says Hood.

‘The figures here show the potential for Jisas to grow into large sums when the investments are given many years to mature and to ride out short term stock market volatility.’