Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of an automatic release process for unclaimed Child Trust Funds traced by National Insurance number.

The Government agrees it is vital to step up efforts to reunite young people with their unclaimed matured Child Trust Funds (CTFs). Around three million accounts have now matured, of which over three quarters of a million remain unclaimed. Recognising the scale of the challenge and building on existing steps, Government has now put in place three new initiatives.

Firstly, HMRC is carrying out social research to better understand the barriers that may prevent young people from engaging with their CTF. This work is intended to improve our understanding of how young people respond to communications about their accounts, and how Government and industry can encourage more account holders to act.

Secondly, HMRC is writing directly to 21 year olds whose matured CTFs remain unclaimed. These letters will make young people aware that they have a CTF and encourage them to take steps to claim it.

Thirdly, Government has launched a dedicated CTF Taskforce, bringing together Government and CTF providers to improve tracing approaches and identify more effective ways to engage young people.

The Government is aware of proposals for the automatic release of funds in unclaimed matured CTF accounts. These savings belong to individual account holders and are held by private sector providers, meaning decisions about the funds rest with the account holder. The Government does not have the authority to access or transfer these funds and neither the Government nor providers hold information on bank accounts belonging to CTF account owners which could accept transferred funds.