Back in his Chancellor of the Exchequer days, Gordon Brown announced that all children born from 1 September 2002 onwards would qualify for a “Child Trust Fund”. HMRC sent vouchers for £250 to parents (or £500 for lower income households) for them to deposit into a Child Trust Fund, either to be saved as cash or invested in shares. If that wasn’t done within a year, then HMRC automatically set up an account for the child themselves. The scheme continued for all children born until 1 January 2011. Until August 2010, children received an additional £250 (or £500) on their 7th birthday. Families were also able to top up the accounts themselves if they wanted to. Once the child turns 18, they have full access to their savings.
So, from this month, the first batch of CTFs are maturing, for those children born in September 2002. It’s quite likely that parents will have forgotten all about their kids’ CTFs – 18 years is a long time, and you might not have given it a thought since then! The CTF provider should be writing to your child to set out their options now that the account has matured, but if you’ve moved house since, they might not know where to find you. Usefully, the government have provided an online tool that children and parents can use to track down their CTFs:
https://www.gov.uk/child-trust-funds/find-a-child-trust-fund
There could be a useful little nest egg there to help your kids kick-start their savings, pay for driving lessons, or whatever else they might need!
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