Launched by the Labour government in 2005, Child Trust Funds (CTFs) were given to every child born on or after 1st September 2002 until just over nine years later at the start of 2011. CTFs were then replaced by Junior ISAs (JISAs) at the start of the austerity period. However, recent research has revealed that around 900,000 CTFs have since become ‘zombie’ accounts, lost and forgotten about in the intervening years.
If your child was born between 1st September 2002 and 1st January 2011, they will definitely have a CTF. How much is in there is dependent on a number of factors. At the start of the scheme, every child received a £250 voucher from the government, with children from lower income families receiving another £250 on top of that. This could be paid into either a cash account or an investment CTF by a parent. There was then a further government top-up when the child turned seven; friends and family could also pay into the CTF up to an annual limit, set at £4,128 in 2017/18.
The top up for seven-year-olds was axed and the initial voucher reduced to £50 in 2010, before the scheme was scrapped altogether the following year. How much is held in your child’s fund will therefore depend on when they were born during the CTF period, as well as how much growth the money has seen in the years since the money was paid in.