NEWS

Government steps up drive to reconnect young people with £1.6 billion

The government is stepping up its efforts to reconnect young people with unclaimed savings in Child Trust Funds (CTFs).

Around 6.3 million Child Trust Fund accounts were opened for children born between 1 September 2002 and 2 January 2011.

More than 750,000 young adults still have unclaimed matured accounts, holding £2,200 on average and totalling over £1.6 billion.

CTFs were introduced to give every child a financial asset at adulthood. However, accounts can go unclaimed for a number of reasons, including difficulty locating them, people forgetting they have them, or a decision to leave the funds invested for the time being.

The government has set up a Child Trust Fund Taskforce, bringing together CTF providers to drive a coordinated effort to increase reunification of accounts.

Members of the Taskforce will include One Family, Coutts, Nationwide, HSBC UK, Pilling, The Coventry (Co-operative), Sheffield Mutual, Unity Mutual, Forester, Healthy Investments and The Share Foundation.

Rachel Blake, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, said:

‘Too many young people are missing out simply because they are not aware of where their CTF is or how to access it.

‘We are acting to fix that by bringing government and industry together - improving coordination and making it easier for people to find and claim what’s rightfully theirs.’

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15/07/2026