5 December 2005
Child Trust Fund consultation on age 7 top-up payments – further issues
The Child Trust Fund is a new long-term savings and investment account for children. Its aim is to ensure that all children, regardless of background, will have a financial asset when they reach the age of 18.
All children born since 1 September 2002 receive at least £250 to invest in a long-term savings and investment account and children from families with lower incomes receive £500. Children, parents, family and friends are together able to contribute up to £1,200 a year to each account and there is no tax for them to pay on any interest or gains made on this money. Child Trust Fund accounts become fully operational on 6 April 2005.
The 2004 Pre-Budget Report announced that the Government is consulting on a further payment of £250 for all children at age seven, with children from low-income families receiving £500.
In the 2005 Pre-Budget Report, the Chancellor announced that the Government would now invite comments on the eligibility criteria for and timing of these payments. For more information please see the briefing note below.
The Child Trust Fund consultation is available below in Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF). If you do not have Adobe Acrobat installed on your computer you can download the software free of charge from the Adobe website. For alternative ways to read PDF documents and further information on website accessibility visit the HM Treasury accessibility page.