Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Money matters

Find financial and money-saving discussions including debt and pension chat on our Money forum. If you're looking for ways to make your money to go further, sign up to our Moneysaver emails here.

Original poster

Child trust funds

22 replies

KT1911 · 01/02/2023 15:54

My son received a government child trust fund for £250. I've never deposited any money myself into the account. My son is 18 now and wants to cash it in for driving lessons. Will the amount he can get be £250 or will it be more or less than that amount.

OP posts:
Iluvfriends · 01/02/2023 15:58

Friends son just got his......hadn't been added to either. He got around £500. I think it depends how it was invested.

Whatislove82 · 01/02/2023 15:59

Why don’t you check? But likely more although not substantially ie unlikely much more than £50 more

butmumineedit · 01/02/2023 16:48

My DD cashed hers in just before Christmas and it was £1200 , we never added to it . The idea was that she was going to finish her driving lessons off - but reality was she spent it on crap !! Less said the better .

WhatHaveIFound · 01/02/2023 16:51

DS has left his invested. His £250 is now worth £1100 so he's pretty pleased with that.

Original poster
KT1911 · 01/02/2023 16:59

Thanks for your replie. If I was able to check then I would have but been as hes 18 I'm not allowed and it wasn't until last night we remembered he had it as it was on the Martin few s program and at present my son is away with the army .

OP posts:
supadupapupascupa · 01/02/2023 17:01

butmumineedit · 01/02/2023 16:48

My DD cashed hers in just before Christmas and it was £1200 , we never added to it . The idea was that she was going to finish her driving lessons off - but reality was she spent it on crap !! Less said the better .

The exact reason we never added a penny. What a stupid idea it all was....

Roselilly36 · 01/02/2023 17:01

It should definitely be worth more than the amount invested, give the firm a call that is managing it, usually they write to the child when it’s matured? Have you not had a letter? They will offer options to cash in the funds, leave it in there etc. Be prepared for a long phone call, child will need to be present, also handy to have passport at the ready for ID purposes. It took my DS2 well over an hour to get it sorted out. Good luck.

mumof3now2 · 01/02/2023 17:02

Does anyone know how we get info on these?
My dd(19) is struggling to access hers

seratoninmoonbeams · 01/02/2023 17:08

HMRc website. Put in an enquiry and they will write to you with more info. Takes a few weeks.

Snowpatrolling · 01/02/2023 17:10

My daughter is 15 and hers is at £800 at the mo, that’s subject to go up or down tho!

butmumineedit · 01/02/2023 17:10

www.gov.uk/child-trust-funds , it's nice and easy to do and relatively quick as well.

1Wanda1 · 01/02/2023 17:11

I remembered DD's CTF after seeing someone post on Facebook that she'd forgotten about her kid's one and when they tracked it down, the £500 had become £2k. So I tracked down DD's and her £500 had become... £450. Still, it was £450 she didn't have before and she was glad of it going to uni.

Belindabelle · 02/02/2023 12:30

My son is 18 soon. He got the £250 and the last time we checked it was worth £480. Apparently he is getting a new phone! So glad we didn’t add any money to this as it would have gone on even more expensive phone I suspect.

Kerrybemmy · 03/02/2023 04:54

My daughter got £9,500 on her CTF, the only money paid in was from the Government or HMRC. It was a CTF that was fully invested in the stock market and therefore riskier so I think that's why she got a higher payout, most CTFs were cash or stakeholder based which would result in a smaller payout. It's a shame they no longer exist, they were a really good idea and helped my daughter buy her first car.

Whatislove82 · 03/02/2023 07:33

Kerrybemmy · 03/02/2023 04:54

My daughter got £9,500 on her CTF, the only money paid in was from the Government or HMRC. It was a CTF that was fully invested in the stock market and therefore riskier so I think that's why she got a higher payout, most CTFs were cash or stakeholder based which would result in a smaller payout. It's a shame they no longer exist, they were a really good idea and helped my daughter buy her first car.

You invested £250 and after 18 years that £250 had grown to more than £9000 ie 36x the original investment? 🤔

Whatislove82 · 03/02/2023 07:34

£9500 and helped my daughter buy her first car.?! that was one nice first car! 😂

dementedpixie · 03/02/2023 07:36

You should have got annual statements letting you know how the Trust fund was performing.

Think a pp has given info on how to get info on them. The Unique reference number on the CTF is your child's NI number.

dementedpixie · 03/02/2023 07:38

I find it unlikely that a £250 investment became £9500 tbh. We paid a small amount in each month (£25 I think) and dd ended up with about £7k. It was is a stocks and shares CTF and went down quite a bit towards the end so moved it to a Junior ISA for the last year or so.

FencingWithKippers · 03/02/2023 07:45

Ds1's was only the original £250 which cashed out at £1200 2 years ago. Ds2's is not performing as well but we will match the amount Ds1 got. We saved separately for them not in the CTF.

fairgame84 · 03/02/2023 07:47

DS cashed his last week. £798 from £250 so he's really pleased.

winterpastasalad · 03/02/2023 07:51

How does the cashing in process work? Is it straightforward?

fairgame84 · 03/02/2023 08:24

winterpastasalad · 03/02/2023 07:51

How does the cashing in process work? Is it straightforward?

I got an email from OneFamily (took over from Abbey Bank) about a month before DS turned 18.
It set out options to either cash out or transfer to another of their products.
DS had to register with them once he turned 18 and prove his ID on YOTI. He then bank transferred the money to his savings account.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page