An Individual Savings Account or ISA is a tax free savings account. Anyone aged over 16 can have an ISA and shelter their savings. The current year ISA allowance is £11,280 of which £5,460 can be held in the cash and the remainder must be in shares. From next tax year, starting on 6th April these figures will increase to £11,520 and £5,760. Money can be withdrawn from an easy access cash ISA but once withdrawn cannot be returned. You can only open one ISA with one provider in each tax year but previous years ISAs can be held with different providers or transferred into new ISAs to get better interest rates. If you don't use your allowance in any one year you cannot carry it forward so make sure you use this year's cash ISA allowance of £5,460 before the end of the tax year on 5th April. Now is a good time to check the new ISA rates on money comparison websites such as http://www.moneysavingexpert.