Nearly a million young people have yet to access their savings contained in Child Trust Funds (CTFs), according to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said over £1.7 billion is waiting to be claimed by a million young adults, at an average value of £1,900 each.
According to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), many young adults either don’t know about their savings or have lost track of them. It found that Child Trust Fund (CTF) providers are charging fees for passively managing these accounts but are not doing enough to link these accounts to their owners.
Chair of the PAC, Dame Meg Hillier MP, said: ‘The aims behind Child Trust Funds (CTFs) are laudable – for young people to come into a pot of money on reaching 18, with the promotion of financial literacy and good savings habits. But many young people are unaware that they have money waiting to be claimed.
‘In an ongoing cost of living crisis, our young people need every bit of support we can give them. HMRC still has time to make sure that CTFs are given the chance to be the boost to young people’s futures which they were designed to be.’