News & Investigations Reporter
4 December 2025
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MoneySavingExpert.com founder Martin Lewis has once more pressed the Chancellor Rachel Reeves to increase the Lifetime ISA (LISA) limit from its current £450,000 cap. In the latest episode of ITV’s The Martin Lewis Money Show Live, Martin also answers a viewer’s question on whether to continue to contribute to their LISA given plans revealed in the Budget to consult on replacing the product next year.
ITV’s The Martin Lewis Money Show Live – Tuesday 2 December 2025
Martin Lewis: “Chancellor, why can’t you raise LISA limit now to help young first time buyers?”
From The Martin Lewis Money Show Live on Tuesday 2 December 2025 courtesy of ITV. All rights reserved. Watch the full episode on ITVX.
Transcript of what Martin said on the show on the LISA limit
Martin Lewis: “[Reading out a viewer’s question:]’Could you ask the Chancellor why they can’t change the £450,000 cap on Lifetime ISAs [LISAs] before the consultation?’. We’ve discussed this many times. ‘So many are stuck and can’t wait for a consultation.'”
The Chancellor Rachel Reeves: “The consultation is getting up and running. We want to get this right. We’re going to introduce a new product, a better product. This is the system we inherited. We are doing that consultation.”
Martin: “But people with LISAs now are very worried. I’m getting people saying, ‘should I take my money out of a LISA right now because of this?’. Chancellor, I could do with your help, so that they have some legitimate expectation of what’s going to happen.”
The Chancellor: “Well we’ll crack on with this consultation and make sure that the new product works better than the one it’s going to be replacing.
“But I would encourage people, if you’ve got money in a LISA at the moment; nothing is changing. Of course, as part of that consultation, we will look at the price of the property you can buy and we will look at that for people who have already got money in a LISA.”
Martin: “And if you have a LISA, do you think you’ll be able to put the whole thing [in] to the new product if you wanted to?”
The Chancellor: “That’s why we’re having a consultation — to answer these questions.”
Martin: “I’ll be pushing you for that.”
The Chancellor: “And I really encourage you and Andy, and all your viewers who have got views on this, to feed into that consultation, so we get it right.”
Martin: ‘I would be cautious about putting too much money in’
Martin then shared his reaction to the conversation with the Chancellor:
Martin: “Well, not much meat to go on on that is there, to be absolutely honest? So let me give you my view.
“First of all, by the way, I’ll also be pushing for the Help to Buy ISA to be able to go into this new product as well, which it should be.
“If you’re going to be buying a house under £450,000 in the next three or four years, I would absolutely, certainly, be opening and putting my money into a Lifetime ISA.
“If you think you might be buying a house in the South East where the price is over £450,000, I would be very cautious about putting a substantial chunk of my money in the cash ISA because of the penalty and we don’t know what’s happening to it.
“As for putting pension money in, I would open an ISA, but I would be cautious about putting too much money in there at the moment because we simply don’t know what will happen. Although I suspect it will be fine, I mean, you’ve got the same answer as I’ve got on it.”
Martin has long campaigned for LISAs to change, highlighting that despite rising house prices, the scheme’s £450,000 house price limit has remained frozen since it launched in 2017. This has meant some first-time buyers are unable to find a suitable property under the limit – and savers buying a home that doesn’t qualify are effectively charged a 6.25% penalty to access their funds.
ITV’s The Martin Lewis Money Show Live – Tuesday 2 December
“Martin, should I still add to LISA for retirement savings, given it may be ditched?”
From The Martin Lewis Money Show Live on Tuesday 2 December 2025 courtesy of ITV. All rights reserved. Watch the full episode on ITVX.
Transcript of what Martin said on the show on continuing to save in LISAs for retirement
Viewer: “I’m in my early 30s and I already own my first home. I just want to know, is it worth me still continuing to add to my Lifetime ISA given the speculation about it changing soon?”
Martin Lewis: “So, the only reason you’d do it is for retirement savings because you can’t get the bonus twice. Are you an employee or are you self-employed?”
Viewer: “Employee.”
Martin: “And are you maxing out your contribution on your pension?”
Viewer: “Yes.”
Martin: “Ok, so that would always be my first step. After that, this is a pretty – you know, it’s better than saving in a normal savings account because you’re getting the 25% bonus. So, it is not a bad thing to be doing. There might be other things that you can do on top.
“I think what I’d say to you is we’re in a limbo stage. I think it would be unthinkable for them to close the Lifetime ISA and not give you the bonus aged 50. I mean, the worst it they’d stop you putting any more money in.
“I mean funny – I’ve just thought of this as I’m talking now. What I’d say to anybody of this age, even if you’ve bought a house and you haven’t got a Lifetime ISA, put a quid in one now just in case they do close it down and later you wanted to use it for retirement. You’ve got that facility.
“But I’d probably – I mean the Chancellor will hate me saying – I’d sort of be in limbo at the moment and wait and see what happens in that consultation before I put too much more money in because we don’t know where we’re going.
“But my guess is they’ll keep it open to people like you who’ve opened one but not allow anybody new to have the same situation that you’ve got. It’s an anomalous product, this retirement savings bit.”