Today (1st September 2020) marks a significant and symbolic day for many of teenagers across the UK.

Today, the first few thousand teenagers will gain access to their Child Trust Fund, money which has been accruing interest for eighteen years. Child Trust Funds (CTFs) were a government scheme in which provided two £250 or £500 deposits (dependent on parental income) in a government approved bank or investment account for the child.

With the first set of children with Child Trust Funds due to turn 18 on 1st September, many teenagers are set to miss out on their Child Trust Fund money which has been accumulating interest for nearly two decades. HMRC estimates that over 700,000 of the Child Trust Fund accounts originally set up have been ‘lost’ or forgotten about, meaning a significant amount of the money provided by the government will remain unclaimed.

At the Just Finance Foundation, we are on a mission to:

1) Ensure everyone is reunited with the money in their CTF

2) Ensure that CTFs are used wisely in this difficult financial climate