More than 3.5 million people will be able to breathe new life into their Personal Equity Plans (PEPs), when PEP and Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) consolidation comes into effect on 6 April.

Claudia Philips, managing director of investment dealing at Alliance Trust, said: “Since the introduction of ISAs in 1999, many PEP investors may well have left their investment sitting idle while they turned their attention to new investment accounts. People should see this new tax year as the way to kick-start their new ISA.”

For the first time since 5 April 1999, PEP holders will be able to subscribe new money to their PEPs, as their accounts automatically become stocks and shares ISAs in the new tax year. Investors now have the chance to start contributing again as long as they don’t subscribe to another stocks and shares ISA in the same tax year.

The rule changes also give investors the chance to manage their holdings more efficiently in an ISA. They can check their asset allocation across their whole investment portfolio and consolidate accounts with a single provider that could save them time and reduce charges for managing their money.

Philips added: “The consolidation of PEPs into ISAs presents an opportune time for investors to look at their investments, particularly in former PEPs, and to assess whether the investments they made many years ago, including those in the old single company PEPs, still meet their current investment needs.

“With ongoing volatility in markets, investors have an opportunity to look at their portfolio to make sure that it is working as hard as it possibly can for them and still meets their investment objectives.”