Thousands of Child Trust Funds are still waiting to be claimed
Hundreds of thousands of young adults could have money sitting in a Child Trust Fund they have not yet claimed. The latest figures from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) show that around 827,000 matured Child Trust Funds remain unclaimed, with an average value of approximately £2,310.
Almost 3 million matured accounts have already been claimed or transferred into an ISA since the first Child Trust Funds began maturing in September 2020. However, some people may not know that an account was opened for them, while others may know they have one but have lost track of the provider.
If you think you could have a forgotten Child Trust Fund, there is a free HMRC service that can help you find where it is held. This guide explains who could have an account, how to trace it and what happens to the money once you reach 18.
Why are forgotten Child Trust Funds in the news?
HMRC published new figures on 23 September 2026 showing the scale of money that has still not been claimed. Around 827,000 young adults aged 18 to 24 have a matured Child Trust Fund waiting to be accessed, with those accounts worth £2,310 on average.
There are signs that more people are actively looking for their accounts. Almost 500,000 young people used the GOV.UK Child Trust Fund locator during the nine months to August 2026. The government has also established a Child Trust Fund Taskforce with the aim of helping more young people locate savings that belong to them.
Child Trust Funds in numbers
827,000
Around 827,000 matured Child Trust Funds remain unclaimed.
£2,310
The average value of those unclaimed matured accounts.
Almost 3 million
Matured accounts claimed or transferred into an ISA since September 2020.
Almost 500,000
People used the GOV.UK locator in the nine months to August 2026.
The figures show why forgotten Child Trust Funds remain relevant even though the scheme itself closed to new accounts more than 15 years ago. For someone who has never checked whether they have one, the starting point is understanding who was eligible.
Could you have a Child Trust Fund without knowing it?
Child Trust Funds were long-term, tax-free savings accounts created for children born between 1 September 2002 and 2 January 2011. The accounts were designed to provide a pot of money that would become available when the child reached adulthood.
The government made an initial contribution of at least £250 to eligible accounts. Parents or guardians could open the account and family members could add further money over the years. If a parent or guardian did not open one, the government could arrange for an account to be opened on the child’s behalf.
That last point is important. Someone does not necessarily need to remember their parents deliberately opening a Child Trust Fund for one to exist. If you were born during the qualifying period, it may therefore be worth establishing whether an account was created for you.
How do you find a lost Child Trust Fund?
If you already know which bank, building society or other provider holds the Child Trust Fund, you can contact the provider directly. If you do not know the provider, you can ask a parent or guardian in case they still have the original account details.
If neither route identifies the account, HMRC provides a free online service that can trace the original Child Trust Fund provider. Someone aged 16 or over can use the service to find their own account, while a parent or guardian can use it to trace an account belonging to a child under 18.
How to find a Child Trust Fund
-
Do you know the provider?
If you know which provider holds the account, contact it directly.
-
If you do not know
Ask a parent or guardian whether they still have details of the account.
-
Use the HMRC locator
If the provider is still unknown, use the free GOV.UK Child Trust Fund locator.
-
Contact the provider
HMRC can identify where the account was originally opened. You can then contact the provider about the account.
The online request itself takes around five minutes, according to HMRC. For most online applications, HMRC says the person should receive details of the Child Trust Fund provider within three weeks.
Find a Child Trust Fund using the official GOV.UK service.
What do you need to find your Child Trust Fund?
If you are aged 16 or over and are looking for your own Child Trust Fund, the HMRC service asks for your National Insurance number. Adoption details are also required where they apply.
The requirements are different when a parent or guardian is searching for an account belonging to a child under 18. They will need the child’s full name, address and date of birth, together with any previous names used by either the child or the person making the request. The child’s National Insurance number can also be provided if available.
The online form has to be completed in one go, so having the relevant information available before starting can make the process easier.
What happens after HMRC finds the account?
HMRC does not hold the savings itself. Child Trust Funds are held by banks, building societies and other account providers, so HMRC’s role is to help identify where an account was originally opened.
HMRC will normally send the details of the provider after completing its search. The account holder can then contact that provider about the account and the steps needed to access or manage it.
There is an important distinction here: the HMRC locator does not tell you how much money is in your Child Trust Fund. The £2,310 figure reported in the latest statistics is an average across the unclaimed matured accounts, rather than an estimate of what any particular person will receive.
What happens to a Child Trust Fund at 18?
A Child Trust Fund belongs to the child for whom it was opened. They can take control of managing the account from age 16, but the money normally cannot be withdrawn until they reach 18.
On the holder’s 18th birthday, the Child Trust Fund matures. No further money can then be added to it, and the young adult takes control of what happens to the savings. Until they withdraw or transfer the money, it remains in an account that nobody else can access.
This also explains why an account can remain unclaimed after somebody turns 18. Reaching 18 makes the money available to the account holder, but it does not mean the money is automatically paid into their bank account.
What can you do with the money once you find it?
Once a Child Trust Fund has matured, the account holder can withdraw the money. Alternatively, the money can remain within the matured account until the holder decides what to do with it. HMRC also describes reinvesting the money as one of the available choices.
A matured Child Trust Fund can also be transferred into an adult ISA. An ISA provides a tax-advantaged home for eligible savings or investments, although the type of ISA used and what happens to the money afterwards are separate financial decisions. Our guide to what an ISA is and how it works explains the account in more detail.
Finding a Child Trust Fund does not therefore require an immediate decision about how the money should ultimately be used. The first practical step is establishing where the account is held and its value; the account holder can then consider the available options in light of their own circumstances.
Is a Child Trust Fund the same as a Junior ISA?
No. Child Trust Funds and Junior ISAs are separate types of tax-advantaged children’s savings account. The Child Trust Fund scheme closed to new accounts in 2011 and was replaced by Junior ISAs.
A child cannot hold a Child Trust Fund and a Junior ISA at the same time. Before a Child Trust Fund matures, it can be transferred into a Junior ISA by arranging the transfer through a Junior ISA provider.
Both are designed so that the money belongs to the child and generally cannot be withdrawn until age 18, but they operate under their own rules. This article is concerned specifically with locating and accessing Child Trust Funds rather than explaining the wider Junior ISA system.
Why are so many Child Trust Funds still unclaimed?
The latest HMRC figures establish that around 827,000 matured accounts remain unclaimed, but they do not tell us why every individual account has not been accessed. It would therefore be misleading to assume that all 827,000 holders have simply forgotten about their money.
One feature of the original scheme provides some useful context. Where an eligible child’s parent or guardian did not open an account, the government could arrange for one to be opened on the child’s behalf. Some young adults may therefore have less awareness of their Child Trust Fund or may not know which provider holds it.
The number of people using the official locator suggests that tracing accounts remains a practical issue. Almost 500,000 people used the service in the nine months to August 2026 alone, although that figure does not tell us how many searches ultimately resulted in money being claimed.
How to find out if money is waiting for you
If you were born between 1 September 2002 and 2 January 2011 and do not know what happened to your Child Trust Fund, you do not need to pay a company to begin tracing it. If you know the provider, you can contact it directly; otherwise, HMRC provides its own free locator service.
The £2,310 average highlighted in the latest figures should not be treated as an indication of what any individual account contains. The more significant point is that around 827,000 matured accounts are still waiting to be claimed, meaning a substantial number of young adults may have savings they have not yet accessed.
Conclusion
Child Trust Funds may be a closed savings scheme, but the latest HMRC figures show that they are far from irrelevant. Almost 3 million matured accounts have already been claimed or transferred into ISAs, while around 827,000 remain unclaimed.
For someone who thinks they may have an account, the process begins with finding the provider rather than making a decision about the money. HMRC’s free locator provides a route for doing that when the provider is unknown, after which the account holder can establish what their Child Trust Fund is worth and consider what to do with it.
Research transparency Sources, Limitations & Methodology See how this research was carried out, what data was used and what the findings cannot tell us.
Methodology
This article uses HMRC’s Child Trust Fund announcement published on 23 September 2026 together with current GOV.UK Child Trust Fund guidance. The figures for unclaimed matured Child Trust Funds, their average value and use of the official locator service are taken from HMRC. GOV.UK guidance is used to explain who may have a Child Trust Fund, how to trace an account when the provider is unknown, what happens when the account holder reaches 18 and the options available after the account matures.
Limitations
The £2,310 figure is the average value of unclaimed matured Child Trust Funds and does not indicate the value of an individual account. HMRC’s published figures do not establish why each account remains unclaimed or how many people using the locator ultimately recover money. The official HMRC service identifies the Child Trust Fund provider but does not provide the account balance. Child Trust Fund rules and tracing information described are the current position as at 24 September 2026.
