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Government steps up drive to reconnect young people with £1.6 billion in unclaimed savings

ended 29. June 2026

Hundreds of thousands of young people could soon be reunited with unclaimed savings worth more than £1.6 billion, as the government launches a new push to trace matured Child Trust Funds (CTFs), it was announced today.

Around 6.3 million Child Trust Fund accounts were opened for children born between 1 September 2002 and 2 January 2011, predominantly by parents and guardians, with the remainder established by HMRC. Accounts can go unclaimed for a number of reasons difficulty locating them, people forget they have them, or a decision to leave the funds invested for the time being.

Child Trust Funds were introduced to give every child a financial asset at adulthood, and this government is doing everything it can to make sure young adults are aware of and can access their accounts.

To make this happen, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Rachel Blake MP, has convened a new Child Trust Fund Taskforce, bringing together CTF providers and the Government to drive a coordinated effort to increase reunification of accounts. 

Members of the Taskforce will include One Family, Coutts, Nationwide, HSBC UK, Pilling, The Coventry (Co-operative), Sheffield Mutual, Unity Mutual, Forester, Healthy Investments and The Share Foundation - with the first meeting happening today. 

More than 750,000 young adults still have unclaimed matured accounts, holding £2,200 on average. The funds were originally set up by the government for those born between 1 September 2002 and 2 January 2011. The Taskforce will improve coordination across government and industry to encourage more young people to access their unclaimed matured CTFs.  

Thoughts ASAP please.

5 responses from the Newspage community

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Rebecca Robertson
Independent Financial Adviser, Planner and Director at Evolution Financial Planning
This is great news for young people, who are struggling to find full-time or part-time work and financially reliant on their parents, at a time when family finances are already tight. The children in question would be between 15 and 24 now. This could make a big difference to them, paying for driving lessons or helping them buy some smart clothes for interviews. Not all families are financially able to support young adults and many are being left behind.
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Nouran Moustafa
Practice Principal & IFA at Roxton Wealth
This is good news, but it is also a reminder of how easily young people can lose touch with money set aside for their future.

£2,200 may not sound life changing in Westminster, but for an 18 to 24 year old it could clear overdraft debt, fund training, cover a rental deposit, buy essential equipment or become the first real step into saving and investing. At a time when young people are told to be financially responsible, we cannot leave £1.6bn sitting in accounts they do not know exist.

The Taskforce is welcome, but it has to be practical. A press release will not reach every young adult. There should be a simple, highly visible digital checking tool, better contact through schools, colleges and employers, and a national campaign that speaks in the places young people actually use.

The aim should not simply be reunification. It should be helping young people understand what that money can do for their future rather than watching it disappear into everyday spending.
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Scott Gallacher
Director at Rowley Turton
While it's welcome that the Government is trying to reunite young people with their Child Trust Funds, it's slightly depressing that we need a taskforce to do it. These accounts were created by the Government, which already holds people's names, dates of birth and National Insurance numbers. In 2026, surely there should be a simpler way of contacting eligible young adults than launching another initiative.

That said, it's obviously good for the affected young people. However, a one off windfall of around £2,200 isn't going to reverse years of generational financial challenges, from soaring house prices to the rising cost of living.
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Samuel Mather-Holgate
Managing Director & IFA at Mather and Murray Financial
This should be easy, and it is plainly the moral thing to do. Child Trust Funds were created to give young people a financial foothold in adulthood, not to gather dust in forgotten accounts. With more than £1.6 billion sitting unclaimed, this is not a minor admin problem- it is young people’s money, often at the very moment they are facing rent, bills, training costs or university debt. Providers and government should treat reunification as an obligation, not a favour. The taskforce is welcome, but success will be judged by pounds returned, not meetings held. Every reasonable route should be used to trace account holders and make access simple, safe and swift.
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Antonia Medlicott
Founder & MD at Investing Insiders
It’s great that a taskforce has been set up to help reunite young people with unclaimed savings from the Child Trust Fund scheme, as this will benefit them massively as they approach key parts of their lives, making a real difference to a generation that needs that helping hand in adulthood.

However, this should have been done sooner, as far too many trust funds are going unclaimed. Some accounts will hold significantly more than the £2,200 average figure that has been circulated, and it’s a shame to see that they have been left until now.

I, along with others, have long pushed for young people to be reunited with these missing accounts, and there are plenty of free tools available out there, like Gretel, which help trace them. Accounts were easily lost, whether it was from parents forgetting they opened one, a house move, or other circumstances, and many young people won’t even know they have this money.