Relationship over, ex keeping ‘joint savings’

He is so far ahead of you OP, honestly.
Listen to what he tells you.
Get another phone and record it for note taking purposes.
Have someone quietly, silently witness the call with you.

Listen to his bullshit. Text it back and say fine, you will involve the police and the bank management.

He thinks you are an awful idiot.
Prove him wrong.

Any man asking for monthly savings is a walking red flag.

It's your money. By putting it into a S&S ISA in his name he's effectively stolen it. Do you have anything in writing about the original arrangement? Presumably your bank statements show the payments.

I'd tell him he needs to pay you back now or it will be a police matter. It has been a volatile time for equities but a) that's his problem and b) most have pretty much recovered now.

Maybe he’s testing the waters to see if you accept what he’s saying - that he can’t access the money. Just be firm - message him and tell him you know how the accounts work (google it) and say you still want your money back so you can move on with no ties. Accept that you may lose a little money, but insist on seeing the closing balance so you know he isn’t pulling a fast one on the amount due. . I’m assuming you know him well enough to know if he has a skewed moral compass. If he doesn’t have form for being dishonest, then just pin your hopes on him behaving fairly.

All this is totally irrelevant.

You could ask him "what is the value of my contribution if you sold today"? (with evidence e.g. a screenshot of the ISA account balance.) If you agreed to it being invested in the stock market then you may be willing for him to sell today and return your half even if there's a loss so that you definitely get something. If you had thought he was putting the money somewhere safer then you probably have grounds to ask for your full contribution back.

Of course it's possible the investment is doing fine but he just doesn't want to give it to you...

As a general rule he can remove money from a stocks isa straight away without any issues, he may lose a portion of his isa allowance but that’s not a monetary value for this isa (just means he can’t then reinvest up to the isa limit).

The investment is worth what it’s worth at this moment. You should hopefully have earned interest and possibly it will have increased if the stocks have done well.

Ask him to show you an online statement of the value then ask him to transfer half of that amount to you. Don’t let him fob you off without you seeing an up to date statement. He should be able to access this online in front of you

A stocks & shares ISA is a type of savings product.
A regular ISA with a bank is one where you save cash & in return receive a fixed rate of interest. Sometimes there are restrictions on withdrawals within the period, sometimes it’s easy access and sometimes it’s totally locked away for the duration of the term on that account. This isn’t what he’s set up.

A stocks & shares ISA is one where you pay money in (as part of your ISA allowance), and that money is used to purchase shares in a company. Or, you can buy into funds. Funds are essentially pots which are managed by a professional - they may be called ‘FTSE100 tracker fund’ as an example. You select that fund, and your money moves up and down in line with the performance of that fund. You can get less or more than you put in, it depends entirely on the markets. These tracker funds would buy shares in multiple companies, and so the performance is based on the markets in that fund more generally.
Each fund has a risk profile, the lower risk funds typically have less volatility and smaller returns. The higher risk funds typically have more volatility (the values go up and down more dramatically) and have the potential for higher gains and bigger losses. The level 7 he mentions could be in relation to the risk.

That said, you can pull your money out at any point (usually). It just takes a few working days to filter through the system.

The alarm bells ringing here is he’s used an ISA which is an individual savings account. He works for a bank, and it sounds like he’s given you financial advice, and then taken your money for personal gain. This lacks integrity and someone in his field should know better than to blur the lines in this way. I would contact citizens advice in the first instance, because clearly at the heart of this you have been misled into making investment choices which were bad for you. This could have (and should have) serious ramifications for his job.

And this is a prime example of why asking on MN is not the best idea. Posters saying “he’s kinda got a point” and then going on to reveal they know absolutely nothing 🤣

contact the CEO of the bank he works for and explain the situation and make it clear their employee has YOUR money and you want their help getting it back and are prepared to kick up merry he’ll to get it. They will help you I think as won’t want their company involved in any of this

Of course it's your money. You didn't give it to him as a gift but to invest on your behalf.

Tell him to hand it over or you're reporting him to the police.

You need to tell him that you intend to report him to the police.
He forced you to save with him and is refusing to return it.

Tell the police you want to make a statement.
Look up Coercive control.
Was there any other controlling abusive behaviour?

Tell him that you will see to it that his job is informed of his financial abuse of you.

Get your money back and do not accept his bullshit or lies.
Do it via the police.

If he works for a bank then he should be aware of the seriousness of financial crimes. I.e if you did report this to the police/action fraud and then state you will inform his employer with proof of every payment you have made to him.
This could be seen as theft.
i work for a bank at ‘head office’ (broad term for a lot of stuff) but any accusations of financial crime. Or crime in general are took VERY seriously. We need to complete attestations annually to confirm we are fit and proper. You would think he wouldn’t want this to impact his role.

What @PrincessofWells said.

Are you sure he actually put the money into savings?

Ask him how long it’s tied up for? Is it a 1 year plan or longer?

He can’t just keep it, you have some power in this situation in that his financial records needs to be squeaky clean, so get him to confirm a timescale and if not done within that threaten small claims court. What record do you have of sending him money/the investment etc

I didnt explicitly say this in my.post but this was my point. You have extra leverage due to his job.

Don't know your options legally, but if he's in finance, he won't be able to have a criminal record or ccj. So I'd be mentioning this to him.

Report him as a romance scammer/ fraudster!

Text him again and ask him for confirmation of where your money is and the reasons he is claiming to be unable to return it promptly. Say you require this information as you’re seeking legal advice about your next steps given his failure to seek your agreement for the change to where the money would be held. If he’s still not responding or is playing silly buggers ask him to confirm his job title and work address. Hopefully he’ll get the hint that you’re willing to make things difficult for him and ensure your money is returned more promptly.

I like @PrincessofWells draft letter.

And id want the full 15k at a minimum irrespective of how much it has gone down.
You never agreed to stocks or volatile investments you agreed to a savings account

I'd tell him had 2 choices

He could
a. Give me my money and keep his job

b. watch me come after him for theft, THEN get my money and then lose his job / watch his life swirl the drain

Utterly disgraceful behaviour and mostly lies to boot i imagine
Even if it is tied to a fix with early redemption which is rare...If there is a redemption fee its his problem for investing so idiotically.

First step is Just do it - Tell your dad and then make a plan and start formally pursing this.

Yeah, that’s fair.

I was wondering if the threat of police involvement might prompt action from the ex.

However I think I prefer your direct approach.

@BarbieKew You can put £20,000 each year into an ISA

It isn't his. Legally or otherwise it's Op's.