As much as £600m could belying unclaimed in forgotten ChildTrust Funds (CTFs), according tostockbroker The Share Centre.CTFs were introduced in 2002 by thegovernment as a way to encouragelong-term saving for children.
Parentsor guardians of children born betweenSeptember 2002 and January 2011received a voucher from HMRC worth£250 (or £500 if they were receivingchild tax credits). Those who did notrespond had an account set up forthem automatically by HMRC.
Digital radio station Share Radiolaunched a campaign last month toreunite account holders with theircash, claiming that almost 900,000CTFs (one sixth of the total) were goingunclaimed.
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The unclaimed accountswere either set up by HMRC or areno longer assigned to an up-to-dateaddress (ie, the parents have movedwithout updating their details).If you think that your child mayhave been provided with a CTF, youcan track it down using HMRC's"Where's my Child Trust Fund" onlinetool, by inputting your address andchild's details.
If it turns out that your child doeshave a CTF whether previouslyunclaimed or not you should considerswitching the funds into a Junior Isa(Jisa). These replaced CTFs in 2011,and the option to switch becameavailable from last year.
Both aretax-free accounts and both types ofaccount allow contributions of upto £4,080 per year, but Jisas which have been embraced farmore enthusiastically by theinvestment industry offer a widerrange of investment options, betterrates, and more importantly, lowermanagement fees.
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