Martin Lewis is urging young people and their parents not to be duped by online companies advertising ‘no win no fees’ on social media to help them track down lost Child Trust Funds, worth on average £2,212. During an appearance on This Morning on Tuesday, the consumer champion warned anyone aged between 18 and 22 not to pay these firms money, or a percentage of the savings amount, as they can do it themselves for free online.
Martin told presenters Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard that across Great Britain, some “671,000 young people have not touched their money and there is an average of £2,212 in these accounts”. He explained that Child Trust Funds are long term, tax-free savings accounts which were set up, with the government depositing £250, for every child born between September 1, 2002 and January 2, 2011.
However, Martin warned: “We’ve started to see a trend on Tik Tok of ‘no win, no fee’ firms advertising to give you access to your money.”
The founder of MoneySavingExpert continued: “Some of them charge you £350, some of them are taking 25 per cent. Do not touch them. Do not sniff them. Do not smell them. You do not need to use those firms.
“They can do absolutely nothing for you that you cannot do yourself. It is a complete rip-off.”
Martin added: “I want to get the message out there – do not pay anyone to get your money out.”
He then went on to explain to viewers that “if you know who the company is, you contact the company” and if you don’t know who it is simply go on to the dedicated Child Trust Funds page on the GOV.UK website here and fill in the simple form.
Young people will need their National Insurance number and their date of birth to access the information.
How to find your Child Trust Fund
If teenagers or their parents and guardians already know who their Child Trust Fund provider is, they can contact them directly. This might be a bank, building society or other savings provider, alternatively, they can visit GOV.UK here and complete an online form to find out where their Child Trust Fund is held.
If a parent or guardian was not able to set up an account for their child, HMRC opened a savings account on the child’s behalf.
Ask HMRC to find a Child Trust Fund
You can ask HMRC to find a Child Trust Fund if you’re:
- a parent or guardian of a child under 18
- 16 or over and looking for your own Trust Fund
You can either:
- use the online form to ask HMRC where a Child Trust Fund is
- request the details by post
To use the online form you’ll need:
- your National Insurance number
- a Government Gateway user ID and password – if you do not have a user ID, you can create one the first time you sign in
You can also do it by post, full details are on the dedicated pages on GOV.UK here.
What else you should know
Teenagers aged 16 or over can take control of their own Child Trust Fund if they wish, although the funds can only be withdrawn once they turn 18-years-old. Where children have a Child Trust Fund, families can still pay in up to £9,000 a year tax-free. The account matures once the child turns 18 years old and no further money can be deposited.
They can either withdraw the funds from the matured Child Trust Fund account or reinvest it into another savings account. Until the child withdraws or transfers the money, it stays in an account that no-one else has access to.
The Child Trust Fund scheme closed in January 2011 and was replaced with Junior Individual Savings Accounts (ISA) – find out more about this here.