Thousands of young people across the UK are being encouraged to trace lost savings held in Child Trust Funds, as the government intensifies efforts to reunite account holders with money set aside during childhood. The initiative follows official estimates showing that around 750,000 accounts remain unclaimed, containing a combined total of £1.5 billion. Many eligible individuals are now over 18 and able to access funds that were originally created to support them into adulthood.
Government Targets 21-Year-Olds in Renewed Awareness Campaign
HM Revenue and Customs has begun contacting 21-year-olds directly as part of a focused awareness drive. This age group has been selected because, according to HM Treasury, individuals are more likely to have up-to-date contact details through employment or student finance records.
Child Trust Funds were introduced in 2005 for children born between September 2002 and January 2011. Each account received an initial government contribution of £250, with an additional £250 provided for children from lower-income families or those in care. According to government figures, these long-term, tax-free savings accounts have grown over time, with the average value now estimated at around £2,200.
Despite this, a significant proportion of account holders remain unaware of their savings. According to HMRC data, two-thirds of the more than six million eligible individuals are now over 18, yet hundreds of thousands have not accessed their funds.
Economic Secretary to the Treasury Lucy Rigby stated that many young people “don’t know they have a Child Trust Fund, let alone how to access it,” highlighting the gap between eligibility and awareness. The campaign aims to address this by providing clear guidance on how to locate accounts using the government’s free online tracing service.
Barriers to Access and Calls for Further Reform
A number of factors have contributed to these accounts being overlooked. In some cases, parents did not actively choose a provider within the first year, leading HMRC to allocate accounts automatically. Over time, changes of address and lost documentation have made tracking them more difficult.
According to Sarah Coles of AJ Bell, many families simply lost track of the accounts as circumstances changed. She noted that while government efforts to raise awareness have been ongoing, young people are not always responsive to official communications, which can limit the effectiveness of such campaigns.
There have also been calls for more direct intervention. The Share Foundation, a charity involved in helping individuals locate their funds, has suggested that accounts should be automatically released to holders at age 21. According to the organisation, this could unlock up to £286 million for young adults immediately.
Guidance from HMRC advises individuals to avoid third-party services that charge fees to locate accounts, sometimes taking a significant percentage of the funds. Instead, the official GOV.UK tool allows users to search for their Child Trust Fund using basic personal details.
While the government continues its outreach, the scale of unclaimed savings underscores the challenge of reconnecting individuals with long-standing financial assets. For many, these funds represent a modest but potentially meaningful financial resource at a formative stage of adult life.
