Tracing a Lost Child Trust Fund

Young people already own their accounts, although huge numbers don’t know it: c. two million accounts are either ‘addressee gone away’ or have never been registered - that’s more than the population of Northern Ireland. As at end-July ‘23 there were over one million accounts unclaimed by young adults aged 18-20.

What do you do if your Child Trust Fund is one of those unfortunate ‘lost’ accounts?

Our plan is to work with virtual events, social media and our team of CTF Ambassador volunteers to bring the problem, and the solution, to your attention. Our CTF recovery campaign journey explains the progress made so far, and our virtual event structure and resources help you to reach out to young people across the UK over the years ahead.

These three videos are used as a key part of these virtual events:

What is a CTF, and why should I have one?

How do I find my account?

How can I make the most of my money going forwards?

CTF Ambassadors are playing a major part for young people with lost Child Trust Funds, helping to answer their questions and to share their thoughts with others. We prepared these Background Notes for virtual events to help prepare for these discussions: please do let us know if you’d like us to add further points or sample questions.

https://findCTF.sharefound.org is a simple search facility for 16-20 year-olds which helps them find their lost accounts. As from their 16th birthday, they are allowed to take control of their own account, and because at that age HM Revenue & Customs sends them their National Insurance number, it’s the right age to start looking if their parent(s)/guardian don’t know where it is.

There’s an additional reminder to find their CTF on that 16th birthday notification: 

The Share Foundation works with the CTF Register operated by The Tracing Group and HM Revenue & Customs to provide this search facility, which is also included in Department for Education Statutory Guidance, and we can track progress at all stages in addition to providing financial awareness links.

It is possible for families to carry out a CTF search via the Government Gateway, but that facility is not focused on this critical 16-18 age group and its matching information relates to account-opening, not current account administration.

What is a CTF?

This website provides lots of information on Child Trust Funds and the facts and figures for the whole scheme, including a geographical analysis by region.