Looking for a children's savings account

[VivaLeBeaver]

DD currently has over 8k in a Nationwide account that last year only got £50 interest. I'm looking for something better and have been on Martin Lewis's website but still can't find anything great.

Halifax have a good 6% account but you can only open it with a max of £100 so no use. We're happy to add a bit more every month to an account if thats one of the conditions. Yorkshire BS have a 4% account but its fixed for 5 years and I'm not sure if fixing that long is good.

Then other accounts all seem to be easy access at around 3%, but we don't need the easy access.

Any suggestions? Does her money have to be in a childrens' account or can we do an ordinary saving ISA for her?

The government are about to launch the Children's ISA as a replacement for the Child Trust Fund. That might be a way to get a better return than a straight bank/building society (which really do pay pants, it's true). Alternatively, you could put some of her money into long-term bonds but that would probably be in your name. Or you could go the unit trusts route (again I think it would have to be in your name) set it up to reinvest any profits in more units and present her with a portfolio when he hits 18. Unit trusts tend to do best over a 10+ year period so if your DD is younger than 8 they could be a good bet.

Unit trusts is a good idea, I have a unit trust with a similar amount in and get about £30 a month interest. I'll ring my providor up and see what they say.