Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the letter from the Economic Secretary to the Treasury to The Share Foundation on 23 January where he stated that "the government currently has no plans to introduce a 'Default Withdrawal at 21' process" for unclaimed and unregistered HMRC-allocated child trust funds, what are their reasons for declining this proposal.

The government carefully considered the proposal outlined in The Share Foundation’s letter of 24 November 2023 and decided it was not deliverable for several reasons.

The Share Foundation have proposed a complex scheme which would require the co-operation of ISA and Child Trust Fund (CTF) managers, other Government Departments and banks and building societies to identify the relevant young people (and whether they are in receipt of benefits or government payments) and to facilitate the transfer of information and funds between those agencies. Such a scheme is likely to engage with data protection issues and interfere with an individual’s right to manage their own financial affairs.

The Government attaches great importance to ensuring young people can access their matured CTFs. HMRC assists these young people through its online tracing service and through targeted communications appropriate to the age group. It will continue its work with providers, industry representatives and other stakeholders exploring ways of increasing the profile of CTFs and enabling account owners to be aware of and trace their accounts.