Child Trust Funds Scrapped

[msjayjay]

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/10146734.stm
Well this was expected but not sure how to feel looks like I will just get in but is it a great upset to parents to be ?

People survived before them... DS1 was born in the first month that they were available (September 2002). We had decided long before that to save every month for them, the trust fund voucher was just a bonus. Looks as though he will be one of the few children to have had the second payment at 7 too!

Well.. I'm not pregnant at the moment, but I really don't think it's any great loss. £250 sounds like a lot but wouldn't really buy anything useful - it's not going to put a deposit down on a flat, buy a car (maybe a couple of driving lessons) or go anywhere towards Uni fees. And if you're saving for these things for your children then the extra £250 isn't going to help that much.

If you want to give £250 to your 18 year old child, you would only have to save £1.16 for them per month from their birth to their 18th birthday.

Good. I asked GB about this on his pre election webchat and he kept saying how important it is, bollocks is it, we need money in the econbomy now, not in some distant future when it will be worth a pittance anyway.
And nobody I known tops them up anyway, waste of money and resources IMO.

Good! It isn't up to the state to save for our children, that is our job as parents. They were a waste of money IMO.

This was a complete and utter waste of public money. I am glad they are gone. Those who want to save can do so for their LO's on their own terms, with access and transferability if required.

Not clear if they mean scrap just the government payment in to them or scrap them all together? My son is disabled so I am saving for the extra help he is going to need later - especially if he wants to go to uni. I think using the money for respite is good though even I don;t need that kind of help I know lots of families who do. But would still like to have 'Childrens ISA' for him to save in to. Otherwise we will have to pay double tax on the interest. So need to see more details - but where?

Shouldn't pay tax on childrens savings?

I'm pg & wont get it but didnt for dd1&2 either so no great loss.

I will start saving £200 now for new baby so that it has the same start as DD. I don't see it as a bad thing that it is going to be honest it was nice to have the £250 to start the fund but it did come at a cost, and that cost should be saved considering the debt the country is in. I'd rather it came from a bonus like this than an essential like pensions etc.

No great loss. I got it for DD but obviously any other won't get it. I forget it's there and we put money into a different savings account, we never think of that one.

Think they're just scrapping their contributions but I agree it isn't very clear so I may be wrong.

"If you want to give £250 to your 18 year old child, you would only have to save £1.16 for them per month from their birth to their 18th birthday."

True - but all the evidence shows that it encourages the saving habit in lower-income families.

30% of households with an income of £19,000 or under typically save an additional £19 a month for their child via CTFs. (source: Children's Mutual).

Saving £19 a month + the 2 govt grants would give your child a lump sum of around 8k - enough for a car or a year's uni tuition.

So not sure your argument stands up.

well why should children grow up with an entitlement to a lump sum of money when they're eighteen?

If people want to save for their children then that is their perogative to do so. I don't see why the government should set up a savings account for them.

I can understand why there is no great loss. However, this is so unfair to those people who have worked and paid their taxes since they were 16. My sister-in-law has barely got off her arse and had a job throughout her life out of laziness but because her daughter was born last December, she gets the money. Not fair.

(source: Children's Mutual) NEWS FLASH turkeys won't vote for Christmas !!!

I resent the fee's charged by managed funds and for such a small capital and regular investment I'm sure people would be better off using the Halifax 10% regular saver and ISA's anyway.

I don't see the problem with one child having it and another not doing?

DS1 got both the baby payment and the age 7 payment, so £500.

DS2 just got the baby payment, so £250.

DD got the baby payment, but due to our financial circumstances (redundancy) we came into the bracket for a higher payment, so she got £500.

It's just the luck of the draw!

As for paying your taxes and so being "entitled" it is the CHILD who got the money, and is hardly their fault if their parents are "too lazy" to work is it?

We can afford to save and give them the same start, but if our circumstances were different then no one would have and the other wouldn't. There is no problem with one not having and the other having, but We have chosen as we are able to give them the same start.

Our circumstances have been different and on paper DC1 has a lot more in the bank than DC2 and a lot more than DC3, however DC3 will have spent the most time in private education at the expense of DC1's savings so it'll never be fair you just have to make sure that one child isn't given £50k and one £5k on their 21st, but that's up to the parents to divvy it all up.

That's why we will give the same start, but can't gurantee the same end for them both (if we stop at 2).

I am glad they are going, not sure if this LO will get any of the cash or not but I know for a fact that if anyone had given my brothers and I money at 18 it would have been spent on booze, fags and a holiday!

Cuts need to be made I suppose and this is an area where a lot of money can be saved and we won't see a decline in some other very important areas (like education, NHS, policing).

It is very emotive though when you see the figures for lower income families and how it really encourages saving. I can see why people might be disappointed.

Pregnant with baby no.1 now, due in 3 weeks and baby might still scrape the £250, which would be a nice bonus for the savings account as we (like many) struggle to find any money left after paying the bills to save. But I'm very aware it's our responsibility to save for our children, not the government! So we'll suck it up and save when and where we can!

I am glad the child trust fund has gone. Why should I be forced via the tax system to pay for someone else?s savings scheme? Parents get enough freebies and handouts to encourage them to breed as it is, but god knows why when the country is bulging at the seams. I hope this new coalition government brings some responsibility into claiming other peoples cash via the welfare system. Labour?s legacy is 2.5 million unemployed and another 8.2 million economically inactive. If you can?t afford to pay for your own kids don?t breed we don?t need the population and we have the most dysfunctional section of society breeding juvenile delinquents as a profession.

Are you implying that none of us have paid taxes or are still not paying taxes?

I worry there's going to be a massive backlash against parents in the coming 12 months, I hear so many people with Max124's opinion/attitude who basically see children as a drain on society full stop.
And most of them are old enough to know better

I have come across a few myself, but never one that puts it quite so offensively as Max124, however face to face people tend to be a bit better at selecting the words they use.