I looked into this a few weeks ago from almost identical viewpoint to yours. I have c@p'd the email I sent to DH about it below. Hope this helps. Cannot guarantee my own accuracy on what I have surmised but I think/hope I got it roughly right.
[quote]The govt put a list of all the CTF providers on this page here - I will summarise the table for you however.
www.childtrustfund.gov.uk/templates/Page.aspx?id=1246
There are 3 options
- Savings account lo/no risk but low returns
- savings account - potentially higher risk but potentially bigger returns
3 stakeholder account - stocks/shares investment with managed risk: these companies must obey govt rules when managing the account, so for example, after age 13 they must put it in gradually decreasing risk investments, so there's not chance that it will end up worth nothing if there's a crash just as DD turns 18.
I think stakeholder sounds like the one for us (we can change at a later date if we want)
There is only one company that makes ethical investments for the stakeholder account which is
www.familyinvestments.co.uk/
You can manage this fund online yourself.
You can compare their performance here
www.trustnet.com/Tools/ComparisonReport.aspx
They have made perhaps a percent or two less then some others in the last year but then they lost less than others in the big crash.
if we set up a direct debit when we apply we get 25 quid boots vouchers when we start.
So - I am no expert but this one seems to be a reasonable choice, with managed risk and its ethical.[/quote]