Adults Lacking Mental Capacity: Child Trust Funds

Baroness Finlay of Llandaff Excerpts

Wednesday 28th October 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Lemos (Lab)]

The noble Baroness makes two points. I very much agree with the first one. It is deeply shocking, not just with this group of people but others, that scammers target people who lack mental capacity or have intellectual or learning disabilities. It is deeply immoral and disgraceful. On the question of accessing these funds, as I said to the noble Lord, Lord Young, we are working actively towards a solution to this problem and Minister Richards hopes to announce something in the coming weeks.

[Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (CB)]

My Lords, following on from the very helpful meeting that the noble Baroness, Lady Levitt, held with several of us who have been concerned about this for many years, could the Minister tell us when there have been meetings with the Court of Protection to develop a fast-track process that would be compatible with the Mental Capacity Act and avoid the delays and expenses that are incurred, but recognise that these funds mature when the child becomes an adult at the age of 18 and that they are therefore legally an adult-to-adult transfer?

[Lord Lemos (Lab)]

The noble Baroness knows that, since 2020, various changes have been made to the Court of Protection framework to make this easier and cheaper to deal with. I will not answer her question specifically, because this work is actively under way, but I am very happy to set out exactly what the arrangements are for the Court of Protection. It is important to reiterate that the Mental Capacity Act is there to protect people’s rights. We do not want to undermine that in any way, and we will not, but we will seek a solution to this problem.