Child Trust Fund
(asked on 3rd December 2020) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, if any, of the number of families in which a child may be unable to manage funds from their Child Trust Fund when they reach the age of 18.
Answered by
Baroness Scott of Bybrook
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
We do not have accurate figures to show how many young people who wish to access a Child Trust Fund at age 18 may lack the mental capacity to make financial decisions for themselves.
The MENCAP website states that approximately 2.5% of children in the UK are believed to have a learning disability and consequently we estimate that there may be between 1 and 2% of Child Trust Funds where the account holder may lack capacity to make financial decisions at age 18. This equates to between 63,000 and 126,000 accounts but is a very rough estimate.