Features

To the point - A fund to keep in trust

Ordinary families are currently being hit with a raft of painful economic cuts, including the loss of one of the most successful savings schemes this country has ever known.

The Child Trust Fund (CTF) saw the Government open an account and donate an initial £250 for every single newborn in the country. The system allowed family members to add to this, over the years, so that a child had a vital savings nest waiting for them.

At a time when the average burden of debt for an 18-year-old is £5,100, rising to £8,000 for 25-year-olds, the CTF was a way of building a more secure entry to adulthood. It was immensely popular with families. In one of the busiest and most stressful years of their life, 85 per cent of parents actively used the CTF. This compares to just 40 per cent of the adult population who have a private pension. But the CTF is now on the scrapheap.

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