Hargreaves Lansdown delays fees increase for ‘targeted’ customers — the quiet relief and growing unease

On a smartphone screen, an email from hargreaves lansdown offered a selective reprieve: a planned jump in the annual charge cap would be postponed for a small group of clients. The message landed against a wider backdrop of a company-wide pricing refresh that many customers have been trying to decode.

What has Hargreaves Lansdown announced and who gets the delay?

In short: the firm has delayed an increase in the annual charge cap for a select subset of clients while implementing other fee changes for everyone. The company had planned to raise the cap for holding shares, investment trusts and ETFs in stocks and shares ISAs and general investment accounts from £45 to £150 on March 1, but emailed a small number of clients offering to postpone that cap increase until the end of February 2027 as a thank-you for loyalty.

A spokesperson for Hargreaves Lansdown said, “We run targeted incentives and promotions across the year as another way of adding great value and saying thank you to clients for trusting Hargreaves Lansdown with their savings and investments. ” The incentive has only been made available to customers already contacted by the platform and will not be offered more widely, and only the price cap component has been changed by the offer.

How do the pricing changes reshape costs for different customers?

The pricing overhaul includes several moving parts. Annual platform charges for ISAs, self-invested personal pensions and general investment accounts were reduced from 0. 45 per cent to 0. 35 per cent. The platform introduced a fund trading fee of £1. 95 per trade while cutting the platform’s share trading fees. At the same time, the planned change to the fee cap for share, trust and ETF holdings was set to be more than tripled, from £45 to £150.

The firm argues that eight in ten customers will be better off or see no change as a result of the refresh. But that leaves a clear minority who face materially higher costs. Clients with large share, trust or ETF portfolios have experienced sharp increases: an illustrative case in the company’s own analysis shows an investor with a £500, 000 share portfolio held in an ISA, making one trade per month and not benefiting from the cap postponement, would see annual charges move from £188 to £233.

What are clients doing and how is the company responding?

The selective postponement appears to be a targeted response after backlash from high-net-worth and previously loyal users. The delayed cap was presented as a loyalty incentive for particular clients, while other changes announced earlier took effect for all customers on March 1. Only the price cap was altered through the targeted offer; other elements of the overhaul remained in force for everyone.

There have been reports that customers with large shares, trust and ETF portfolios have left the platform in search of cheaper alternatives. The combination of a higher cap for many customers and new per-trade charges for funds has sharpened attention on value and on whether the platform’s overall package still fits larger, active portfolios.

Back in the inbox where the story began, the selective email sits awkwardly between relief and resentment. For those who received the postponement, the message is a tangible acknowledgment of loyalty. For others who face steeper bills or who have already moved assets away, it is a reminder that pricing changes can reshape relationships overnight. The company has framed the moves as a net positive for most clients, but the experience of those with large share and ETF holdings underscores how a single policy shift can prompt both gratitude and departures.

As customers weigh whether to stay, switch or reshuffle holdings, the small group offered the delay will watch whether the postponement becomes precedent or remains a one-off expression of thanks. The initial scene—a brief, targeted email from hargreaves lansdown announcing a postponed fee rise—now reads as both a concession and a test of how far selective incentives can mend frayed trust.