What are Child Trust Funds?

If you were born as a UK citizen between 1 September 2002 and 2 January 2011, it's likely you have a Child Trust Fund in your name, even if your parents aren’t aware of it.

The government opened Child Trust Funds on behalf of children if their parents didn’t do it before they turned one. If you think you might have a Child Trust Fund that was opened for you by the government, you can check their website. Alternatively, you can find your CTF via the Child Trust Fund Register.

You will need to contact us to take control of your account. Please have your National Insurance number to hand. We will need to verify your identity and confirm your contact details including your address so we can contact you.

If you think you might have a Child Trust Fund, and if your parents don’t remember which company they opened it with, or if the government opened it on your behalf, you will need to contact HMRC to find out where it is. You can start this process by visiting the website to ask HMRC to find a Child Trust Fund. Alternatively, you can visit The Share Foundation or via the Child Trust Fund Register to help you find your CTF to help you find your Child Trust Fund.

No. Please do not pay anyone to find your Child Trust Fund for you or agree to pay a company a percentage of it in return for them tracking it down.

Register or log into your account to find out.

If you’re not sure if your Child Trust is with us, you can contact us using the details below.

Call us on (UK) 0333 323 5433 or (Eire) 3531 800 816 736. 

Phone lines are open Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5.30pm.

For your protection, calls may be monitored and recorded.

Additionally you can ask HMRC, The Share Foundation or the Child Trust Fund Register to help you find your CTF.

There are three reasons why you and your peers may have different amounts in your Child Trust Funds when you reach 18.

1. You may have started with a different amount. The scheme changed over time so those born later generally were given less. Your family's individual circumstances also affected how much the government gave you.

2. Friends or family members may have added additional money.

3. There are many different types of Child Trust Funds. Your parents may have chosen a fund or this may have been allocated on your behalf. Different funds performed differently, meaning some went up in value more than others.

The Registered Contact (RC) is the person who looks after and can instruct us on managing the Child Trust Fund, for example transferring it to another provider.

Before the age of 16, the RC is usually your parent or legal guardian. Once you turn 16, you can become the RC yourself simply by registering for an online account and taking over the Child Trust Fund. When you turn 18, you’ll automatically become the RC.

When you turn 18. This is when your Child Trust Fund 'matures', which means the money becomes available.

It’s not possible to withdraw any money from your Child Trust Fund before you turn 18.

When the time is right to take control of your Child Trust Fund we will need to verify your identification. We will ask you to provide us with one item from 'List A', and evidence of your bank details as per ‘List B’ below:

List A – Proof of name

• Valid passport

• Valid UK driving license photocard (can be provisional)

• Valid disabled blue badge***

• Council tax bill / demand letter*

• Notification of entitlement to state / local authority benefit*

• Confirmation from work / school / college / university / care institution on their headed paper confirming name, address, date of birth and details of employment / study / residence status

• Notification of entitlement to tax credit*

• Notification of entitlement to educational loan / grant*

• Notification of entitlement to other government / local authority grant*

• HMRC (Inland Revenue) coding / assessment / statement / tax credit (P60’s/P45’s not acceptable)*

• Armed forces card

• UCAS letter*

• Firearms certificate or shotgun license

• Northern Ireland voters card

List B – Proof of address and bank account details

• Bank statement for the account to which you want your funds to be paid**

* Must be the most recently issued document and less than 12 months old

** Must be the most recently issued document and less than 3 months old (except water bills – less than 12 months old). Internet printed documents are acceptable where they are clearly printed and contain customer name and address. Screen shots are not acceptable.

***A copy of both sides of the badge should be provided showing the photo and expiry date.

Information on how we use the personal information you provide can be found on our website at www.scottishfriendly.co.uk/privacy-policy.

When Child Trust Funds were introduced by the Government in 2005 one of the requirements of the stakeholder CTF account was to include a lifestyling facility. This meant that, from age 13, the money invested in your child’s CTF would gradually be moved to lower risk investments, meaning the money invested would be protected from stock market performance as they reach 18.

In 2015 the Government increased the age at which lifestyling needs to start from 13 to 15 years of age and in 2017 they made another change by removing the requirement for lifestyling altogether.

Given the range of tax-efficient savings now on offer for children, Scottish Friendly has therefore chosen not to adopt lifestyling and so your child’s CTF will continue to be invested in the same fund until it matures on your child's 18th birthday. If, however, you want lifestyling, your child’s CTF can be transferred to another CTF provider who offers this feature at any time free of charge.

At 18, your Child Trust Fund 'matures'. That means the money can be taken out or moved to a different type of account.

You’ll need to let us know what you’d like to do with the money. No-one else can do this on your behalf. We will write to you before your 18th birthday with your options and what to do next.

If a young person is unable to manage their own affairs and needs extra support from their parent or guardian, we ask that you get in touch with us so we can help. We’ll look at each situation on a case-by-case basis and will do our best to make the process as smooth as possible.

Call us on (UK) 0333 323 5433 or (Eire) 3531 800 816 736. 

Phone lines are open Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5.30pm.

For your protection, calls may be monitored and recorded.