London, March 2, 2026, 08:59 GMT
- Hargreaves Lansdown’s revised pricing took effect on March 1, cutting some charges and adding new ones
- Analysts say the new structure creates clear winners — and a smaller group of louder losers
- A separate April 5 deadline is looming for some married couples to backdate a UK tax relief
Hargreaves Lansdown’s new fee schedule for its investment accounts took effect on March 1, cutting some charges while adding new ones for certain trades.
The change matters now because March is when many UK savers review ISA and pension moves before the April 5 tax-year deadline, and small differences in fees can snowball over time.
It also lands in a market where platforms are fighting harder for DIY investors, and pricing is one of the few things customers can compare quickly without reading a 40-page brochure.
Under the new tariff, Hargreaves cut the annual “account charge” — an ongoing fee for holding investments — on its Stocks and Shares ISA (a tax-sheltered Individual Savings Account) and SIPP (self-invested personal pension) to 0.35% from 0.45%. It lowered online share dealing to £6.95 per trade, with £3.95 for customers who made 20 or more trades the previous month, introduced a £1.95 charge on online fund deals, and lifted the annual cap on account charges for shares, investment trusts and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to £150 from £45. 1
MoneyWeek reported Hargreaves has said it expects eight in 10 customers to be better off or pay the same, even as it reshuffles charges across different types of investors. Interim CEO Richard Flint said the overhaul should make investing “simpler and more accessible”, while Boring Money founder Holly Mackay called it “broadly-speaking good news” — though she added, for long-time ETF and investment-trust holders, “the party has ended”. 2
Others are less convinced it will quiet complaints. Chris Bredin, a consultant at industry adviser the lang cat, said the headline cut was “clearly welcome” but that “the details matter”, and Jefferies analysts described the changes as likely “a response to outflows” to cheaper platforms, noting Hargreaves still sits above rivals such as AJ Bell on some measures. 3
Good Money Guide said the lower platform fee and cheaper share trades will help many clients, but that active fund traders and investors buying overseas shares could still pay more once dealing charges and foreign exchange (FX) costs — currency conversion fees — are added in. It said Hargreaves estimates 94% of customers will see a reduction, no change, or an increase of no more than £5 a month. 4
But the new menu could still be a headache. Customers with larger share-heavy portfolios face a higher annual cap, frequent fund traders now have a per-trade charge, and rivals will use the moment to push comparison calculators and transfer offers.
The fee shake-up is landing alongside a separate personal-finance deadline that trips up millions. MoneySavingExpert, co-authored by consumer finance commentator Martin Lewis, says “around two million” qualifying couples are missing the Marriage Tax Allowance, which lets a lower-earning spouse or civil partner transfer £1,260 of personal allowance to their partner, cutting the partner’s tax by up to £252 a year. The site says claims can be backdated to the 2021/22 tax year, but warns a backdated claim for that year must reach HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) — the UK tax office — by April 5, 2026, or the £252 saving for 2021/22 is lost; it also cautions some couples close to the income thresholds can end up worse off. 5
For households, the message is the same in both cases: check the small print. In a market where platforms compete on fractions of a percent and tax relief can expire quietly, the default option — doing nothing — can be the costly one.
