Its Child's Play 11/21/2008
 

Any child born in the UK after September 1st 2002 is in entitled to a child trust fund voucher. These CTF vouchers form the basis of the child trust fund. The vouchers are available to any child claiming child benefit. Child benefit is a universal benefit that all UK children receive regardless of income.

What do you need to know about child trust funds?

Here are the basic facts:

All child born on or after 1st September 2002 will receive a voucher to open a child trust fund

All children regardless of income level will receive a CTF voucher.

All savings in a child trust fund are tax free

If you are a low income family (joint income below 15,575 pounds) you will receive and extra 250 pounds to invest.

All children receive an extra 250 pounds to invest when they reach the age of seven.

You can top up the child trust fund to the tune of 1,200 pounds a year.

To receive the voucher the child must be registered to receive child benefit.

Anyone can contribute to a child trust fund - perfect for presents!

The investment cannot be accessed until the child reaches the age of 18.

At the age of 16 the child can make decisions about where the money is invested.

Child Trust Funds can be transferred between different providers at no extra cost.

If you do not invest the CTF voucher with 12 months the government will invest the voucher for your child and contact you with the details.

The first child trust funds will mature in 2020.

From April 2009 you will be able to open a child trust fund online without having to send the voucher onto the fund provider.

24% of parents currently top up their children's trust funds.

In August 2008 there where 3.61 million child trust funds in the UK.
Once you have received your voucher the process is simple.

You need to choose a provider for your child trust fund, contact them and open an account. Currently you need to send in the voucher with the paper work. From April 2009 you will be able to open the account online using the serial number on the voucher. You will then be given details of how to top up the child trust fund

Virgin Money have calculated that the basic investment from the government would mature into a sum of 1,410 pounds in the eighteen year cycle of the investment. If you paid in all the child benefit at the same time the total would be a much healthier 27,000 pounds. Now that's a college fund!

For more information on Child Trust Fund visit Jump Savings.

Tony Heywood ©

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