Child Trust Funds: What to Do If Your Child Still Has One

If your child was born between September 2002 and January 2011, they may well have a Child Trust Fund - a now-discontinued account type that’s often forgotten, sometimes sitting with an uncompetitive rate for years without anyone reviewing it.

What a Child Trust Fund actually is

Child Trust Funds (CTFs) were long-term, tax-free savings accounts the government set up for every child born between 1 September 2002 and 2 January 2011, initially seeded with a government contribution - today’s equivalent support for new parents comes via schemes like the Sure Start Maternity Grant rather than a universal CTF-style payment. They were closed to new applicants once Junior ISAs launched for children born from 3 January 2011 onwards, but existing CTFs can still be paid into by parents, family, and friends - up to the same £9,000 combined annual allowance as a Junior ISA.

Why CTFs are now considered ‘dead’ accounts

Because no new CTFs can be opened, providers have limited competitive incentive to offer attractive rates on existing ones - many CTF providers now offer meaningfully lower interest rates (for Cash CTFs) than currently available Junior ISAs, since there’s no new customer acquisition pressure driving CTF rates competitive in the way there is for JISAs.

The good news: you can transfer a CTF into a Junior ISA

It’s a straightforward, one-way process: open a new Junior ISA (you don’t need to fund it separately first) and request the transfer through the new provider, who handles moving the money across from the CTF on your behalf. This is a permanent decision - once transferred, you can’t switch back to a CTF, but since CTFs can no longer be opened at all, this isn’t a meaningful restriction in practice.

Cash or Stocks & Shares - the same decision as a JISA

Both CTFs and JISAs come in Cash and Stocks & Shares versions, and the choice between them follows the same logic - the younger the child, the more time available for stock market investment to potentially outperform cash over the long run, though with genuine investment risk that cash doesn’t carry (see our dedicated JISA article for the fuller comparison).

How to find a lost Child Trust Fund

If you’re not sure whether your child has a CTF, or you’ve lost track of which provider holds it, HMRC provides a free CTF-tracing service specifically for this purpose - many CTFs, particularly ones where the initial government voucher was never actively invested by a parent, ended up with a default provider and have been sitting largely forgotten for years.

Why checking is worth doing even for a modest-sounding balance

A CTF that’s been open since a child’s birth, even with modest ongoing contributions, has had well over a decade to grow - checking the current balance and rate, and comparing it against what a JISA would currently offer, is worth doing regardless of how small you assume the account might be.

What happens when the child turns 18

A CTF matures and effectively converts in a similar way to a JISA at 18 - the child gains full access to the funds (see our dedicated article on what happens to JISAs and Junior SIPPs at 18, which covers the equivalent process). Between 16 and 18, the child can take over management of the account themselves, even though withdrawal still isn’t possible until 18.

The bottom line

If your child has a Child Trust Fund, it’s worth actively checking the current rate and balance rather than assuming it’s being looked after - CTF rates have often fallen behind current Junior ISA rates simply because the provider market for CTFs specifically has stagnated. Transferring to a JISA is free, straightforward, and often a meaningful upgrade in the rate or fund options available.