Unclaimed Child Trust Funds: How to Find and Claim Yours

On 1 September 2026 the Financial Conduct Authority asked young adults to check whether they are sitting on a forgotten Child Trust Fund. Its figures, sourced from HMRC, are that 760,000 matured Child Trust Funds remain unclaimed, each worth an average of £2,000 (FCA, 1 September 2026).

The FCA does not publish a combined total, so we will not invent one. Multiplying its two published figures gives roughly £1.5 billion, but that is arithmetic on an average, not a number anyone has measured.

Around 6.3 million accounts were opened before the scheme closed, and the remaining ones carry on maturing until 2029 as each holder turns 18 (same source, notes to editors).

The only thing that decides whether you have one: your date of birth

This is the fact most people actually come here to check, and it is worth being exact about, because one day either side of the window means there is no account at all.

Section 2 of the Child Trust Funds Act 2004, as amended by section 1 of the Savings Accounts and Health in Pregnancy Grant Act 2010, defines an eligible child as one “born after 31st August 2002 and before 3rd January 2011” (legislation.gov.uk, CTFA 2004 s.2; SAHIPG Act 2010 s.1).

In plain dates:

	Date
Earliest birth date with a Child Trust Fund	1 September 2002
Latest birth date with a Child Trust Fund	2 January 2011
Born 31 August 2002 or earlier	No Child Trust Fund
Born 3 January 2011 or later	No Child Trust Fund, Junior ISA instead

GOV.UK states the same window in consumer wording: “a long-term tax-free savings account for children born between 1 September 2002 and 2 January 2011” (GOV.UK, Child Trust Fund).

You may see HMRC’s provider guidance describe the window as ending on 3 January 2011. That is the statutory cut-off date being quoted rather than the last eligible birthday: the Act says “before 3rd January 2011”, so a baby born on 3 January 2011 did not get an account. If your birthday is in the first days of January 2011, the 2nd is the last day that counts.

Section 2(5A) then cuts the other way: a child born before 3 January 2011 who would only have become eligible on or after that date is excluded, unless one of the narrow saving cases in subsections (5B) and (5C) applies. So the birth date opens the door and the child benefit or care condition walks through it. If you were born inside the window but think no account was ever opened, it is still worth asking HMRC.

It is the child’s money, absolutely

This is the point that causes the most family arguments, so here it is plainly.

Regulation 8(2)(a) of the Child Trust Funds Regulations 2004 requires that “the account investments shall be in the beneficial ownership of the named child” (SI 2004/1450). HMRC’s guidance for providers puts it the same way: once a subscription is made, the cash and anything bought with it are beneficially owned by the child (HMRC provider guidance).

What follows from that:

• A parent or guardian can be the registered contact: they choose the provider, choose the investments and receive the statements. That is a management role, not ownership.
• They cannot withdraw the money. Regulation 18 permits withdrawals before the child’s 18th birthday only by the provider to settle management charges, under the terminal-illness rule in regulation 18A, or where the provider is satisfied the child has died.
• Money paid in cannot be taken back. A grandparent who contributed £500 has made a gift to the child, not a loan.
• At 18 the money is the young adult’s to spend, save or waste. GOV.UK is blunt about it: “The money belongs to the child and they can only take it out when they’re 18.”
• Parental contributions do not get caught by the settlements rules that normally tax a parent on income from money they give a child. Regulation 24(f) disapplies section 629 ITTOIA 2005 for account income.

If you are a parent hoping to hold the money back past your child’s 18th birthday, a Child Trust Fund is not the vehicle that does that. Nobody can override the maturity.

What the government originally put in

The starting balances were vouchers paid by the government, and the amounts changed several times. The figures are in regulation 7 of SI 2004/1450:

Cohort	Government contribution
Child first eligible through a Child Benefit award, from the scheme’s start	£250
Child first eligible through being in local authority care	£500
The original backdated cohort born 1 Sept 2002 to 5 April 2003	£277 (or £554 if in care)
Born 6 April 2003 to 5 April 2004	£268 (or £536)
Born 6 April 2004 to the scheme’s launch	£256 (or £512)
Lower-income families, supplementary contribution on top	a further £250 for children eligible after the appointed day; £266, £258 or £250 for the three backdated cohorts, and £50 where the relevant 2010 date applies
Children caught by the relevant 2010 date, 2 August 2010	cut to £50 (or £100 in the looked-after case, which turns on birth or first UK presence rather than on when entitlement started)

The higher backdated figures existed because those children’s accounts were opened after their birth, so the amounts were topped up for the delay.

There was also an age 7 payment under the now-revoked regulation 7A: £250 on the seventh birthday, plus a further £250 for lower-income families, or £500 for a looked-after child. Regulation 7A was inserted with effect from 6 April 2009 and removed on 1 August 2010, so it only ever reached children who had their seventh birthday inside that window.

On top of the vouchers, anyone could pay in, so what is actually in the account today depends entirely on family contributions and 15-plus years of investment returns.

What happens at 16, and what happens at 18

Age	What changes
16	The young person can take over as registered contact and run the account themselves. They still cannot withdraw anything.
18	The account matures on the 18th birthday. The money can be withdrawn, or transferred, and it is theirs.

GOV.UK confirms the age-16 handover (“they can take control of the account when they’re 16”) and the age-18 access rule (GOV.UK, Child Trust Fund). HMRC’s provider guidance confirms that both stakeholder and non-stakeholder accounts mature on the account holder’s 18th birthday.

If you did nothing at 18, the money was not lost

This is why 760,000 accounts can sit unclaimed without anyone forfeiting anything.

Regulation 13B of SI 2004/1450 deals with maturity where the provider has no instructions. On the holder’s 18th birthday, all the investments held immediately before that birthday are transferred by the provider into a protected account, with non-cash investments moved across in specie rather than sold. The provider chooses between two forms:

1. a matured CTF account, which continues under the Child Trust Fund regulations on the same terms as before; or
2. a cash ISA or stocks and shares ISA with the same provider.

Either way, the tax exemption follows the money. HMRC’s provider guidance states that income and gains generated by Child Trust Fund investments are exempt from Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax, and that exemption is what regulation 24 of SI 2004/1450 sets out.

A matured CTF account has two practical limits, in regulation 13C: no further subscriptions can be made to it, and it must stay with the original provider unless the provider itself exits the market. So it keeps growing tax-free but it is frozen as a savings vehicle. That is a good reason to claim or transfer it rather than leave it.

How to find one, for free

If you know the provider, contact them directly. If you do not, ask HMRC.

• Who can ask: anyone 16 or over looking for their own account, or a parent or guardian of a child under 18.
• What you need: your National Insurance number if it is your own account. A parent or guardian needs the child’s full name, address and date of birth, plus any previous names.
• How long: HMRC normally replies within 3 weeks of receiving an online request. Postal requests take longer.
• Cost: nothing.

The route is Find a Child Trust Fund on GOV.UK. HMRC’s chief customer officer, quoted in the FCA release, tells people to search “find my Child Trust Fund” on GOV.UK.

You will still need to prove your identity to the provider before they release the money, but that is a free step too.

The reason the FCA put out a warning as well as a reminder

The FCA’s press release is half consumer nudge, half warning about firms that charge to trace your own account. It says it has seen customers charged £400 to locate an account, and firms charging a monthly subscription for what is a one-off tracing job. Some advertise on social media and take a cut of the payout.

Two things make this worse than an ordinary bad deal:

• tracing is not generally an activity that needs FCA authorisation, so the firm doing it may not be covered by the FCA’s cap on claims management fees; and
• you may not be able to take a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

The FCA has also opened a review into Child Trust Funds, looking at holders who cannot be contacted at 18, whether firms are delivering fair value under the Consumer Duty, and whether vulnerable young adults face barriers to getting their money. It reports next year.

Tax when you take the money out

There is none.

Regulation 24 of SI 2004/1450 exempts account income and gains from Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax, and HMRC’s provider guidance restates it. Withdrawing at 18 is not itself a taxable event, there is nothing to declare on a Self Assessment return, and the withdrawal does not touch your Personal Savings Allowance or your dividend allowance.

It also does not consume your adult ISA allowance. HMRC’s guidance for ISA managers is explicit: “You must ignore subscriptions to an ISA transferred from a matured Child Trust Fund for the overall ISA subscription limit” (HMRC, how to open an ISA as an ISA manager). So you can roll a matured Child Trust Fund into an ISA and still use your full £20,000 subscription for the year.

The one exception in that same guidance: a subscription into a Lifetime ISA from a matured Child Trust Fund is subject to the overall Lifetime ISA payment limit. If a Lifetime ISA is where you want the money, that transfer is capped like any other LISA payment. See our guide to the ISA types for how the wrappers differ.

Child Trust Fund or Junior ISA: the transfer rules

If the holder is still under 18, the account can be moved to a Junior ISA, and usually should be, because the Child Trust Fund market has been closed to new business since 2011 and rates and fund choice reflect that.

The rules, from HMRC’s transfer guidance:

• A child cannot hold both. “A child cannot have a CTF and a JISA so if a CTF is transferred the whole account must be transferred and the CTF provider must close the account.”
• No part transfers. The Child Trust Fund must be transferred in full and closed.
• The transfer does not use up the Junior ISA allowance. “Once the transfer has been made, the child can access the full JISA subscription limit for the tax year of transfer regardless of any subscriptions made to the CTF in that year” (HMRC transfer guidance).

The annual limits are the same figure but they are not measured the same way, and this trips people up:

	Child Trust Fund	Junior ISA
Annual limit	£9,000 (reg 9, SI 2004/1450)	£9,000 for 2026/27 (GOV.UK)
The year runs	birthday to birthday (the “subscription year”)	6 April to 5 April (the tax year)
Carry forward	Not allowed	Not allowed

HMRC’s provider guidance states the Child Trust Fund limit has been £9,000 since 6 April 2020, and that any unused part of the limit is lost. Regulation 9(2) is where the birthday-to-birthday subscription year is defined.

One recent rule change worth knowing if the account is invested: from 6 April 2026, cryptoasset exchange traded notes cannot be held in a Child Trust Fund, though any held before that date can stay (HMRC, amendment to the Child Trust Funds Regulations 2026).

Early access before 18

The only route to the money before the 18th birthday is the terminal illness rule in regulation 18A. HMRC operates it through a Child Trust Fund and Junior ISA terminal illness early access form, submitted with a medical report from the child’s practitioner where required. The claim can be made by the person managing the account, or by the child themselves if they are over 16 and managing it (GOV.UK).

There is no hardship route, no university-fees route and no early-release-for-a-house-deposit route.

What to actually do

1. Check your date of birth against the window. 1 September 2002 to 2 January 2011 inclusive. Outside it, stop here.
2. Ask the provider if you know it, otherwise use HMRC’s free tool and wait about 3 weeks.
3. Do not pay anyone a share of it. There is no step in this process that needs a paid intermediary.
4. Decide before you withdraw. A matured account is still tax-sheltered, so moving it into an ISA keeps it that way and does not touch your £20,000 allowance. Cashing it out puts the money into a taxable environment.
5. If the holder is under 18, consider a full transfer to a Junior ISA for better choice and pricing, remembering it does not cost the year’s Junior ISA allowance.

Related reading

• ISA types compared for where a matured account can go next
• Junior ISA vs Junior SIPP if you are saving for a child now
• Tax-free savings allowances for what happens to interest outside a wrapper
• UK tax glossary for the surrounding terms