HMRC Launches Campaign to Reconnect 21-Year-Olds with Unclaimed Child Trust Funds

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has launched an awareness drive to reconnect 21-year-olds with unclaimed Child Trust Funds, GB News reported. The tax authority will write directly to every 21-year-old with an unclaimed Child Trust Fund account. 5 billion is held in around 750,000 unaccessed Child Trust Fund accounts.

Two-thirds of the six million people who received Child Trust Funds are now over 18. Child Trust Funds are long-term, tax-free savings accounts introduced by the Government in 2005 for children born between September 2002 and January 2011. Each eligible child received at least £250 when the Child Trust Fund account was opened.

Children from low-income families or in local authority care received an additional £250 in their Child Trust Fund accounts. Child Trust Fund accounts are managed by banks, building societies, and savings providers. Unclaimed Child Trust Funds are worth around £2,200 on average.

Child Trust Fund accounts mature when an individual turns 18, allowing withdrawal or reinvestment of the money. Lucy Rigby, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, convened Child Trust Fund providers at a roundtable earlier this week to explore improving efforts to reconnect savers with their accounts. UK website.

"Hundreds of thousands of young people in this country don't know they have a CTF, let alone how to access it," said Lucy Rigby. " The Share Foundation provides a free tool to help individuals locate their Child Trust Fund accounts. Child Trust Funds have been replaced by Junior ISAs.