Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to simplify the process by which families of children with terminal health conditions may access Child Trust Funds.

HMRC has worked closely with Child Trust Fund (CTF) providers, the wider industry and the Money and Pensions Service to ensure that young people are aware of, and can access, their CTFs.

HMRC has:

· required CTF providers to write to their customers informing them of their options in their 17th year and to provide statements annually after the account holder turns 18.

· worked closely with CTF providers to ensure they are meeting regulatory requirements to communicate with CTF customers approaching and reaching maturity.

· developed and improved the ‘Find my CTF’ service on GOV.uk to help customers locate their account.

· added information to the National Insurance Notification (NINO) letter, which is sent out prior to a child’s 16th birthday, to raise awareness of the CTF scheme with children in the appropriate age bracket

· issued a range of communications through regular press releases and social media posts.

Children with maturing CTFs also receive a significant amount of written information pertaining to their account directly from their account provider.

Information on the number of CTFs that have matured and were recorded as continuing as of the 5th of April 2021 is available in HMRC Annual Savings Statistics: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/annual-savings-statistics-2022.

We cannot provide an estimate of the number of mature continuing CTFs by region, disability, or ethnicity as we do not hold that data.

Estimates of the number of mature continuing CTFs by gender or income decile can only be provided at a disproportionate cost.

The scheme has been closed to new entrants for over 12 years. In this time HMRC has been focusing resources on evaluating and improving existing schemes. We will continue to keep the need to evaluate old schemes under review.

The process for accessing CTF accounts for terminally ill children is kept as simple as possible, while protecting the interests of the child. Only a person with parental responsibility can take money out of a terminally ill child’s account.

To access the CTF of a child with a terminal illness, the parent or guardian completes an application form on Gov.uk and provides evidence of receipt of terminal illness benefit from the Department of Work and Pensions or Social Security Scotland. If they are not receiving any such benefit, they can provide evidence from a medical practitioner about the child’s illness.