How to find a lost Child Trust Fund

If you were born between 1 September 2002 and 2 January 2011, the government almost certainly opened a long-term tax-free savings account for you, and the money in it is yours. Around 6.3 million Child Trust Funds were opened for children born in that window, each started with a government payment of at least £250¹. The average account was worth £2,642 in April 2026², and more than 750,000 of them, holding an estimated £1.5bn to £1.6bn, remain unclaimed³.

Finding yours takes two steps. First, use the free Child Trust Fund finder tool on gov.uk, which asks for a few personal details and tells you which provider holds the account¹. Second, contact that provider, prove who you are, and decide what to do with the money. The whole trace is free, and the money does not expire or get absorbed by the government if you leave it: an unclaimed account simply continues in your name⁴.

The short answer: use HMRC's finder, then contact the provider

The government's free Child Trust Fund finder tool on gov.uk is the official way to trace an account. You enter your details, HMRC checks its records, and it tells you the name of the provider holding your account¹. Which? describes the same route: if you think you or your child has a CTF, you can use the "find a child trust fund" tool on the government website to see where the account is held⁴. Once you have the provider's name, you contact it directly, confirm your identity, and ask about the balance and your options.

The tool exists because the scheme was deliberately hands-off. Parents received a voucher by post and chose where to open the account, and if they did nothing, the government opened one instead¹. Many families then simply forgot, moved house, or lost the paperwork, so the account sits with a provider that may have changed name or been taken over since 2005. HMRC holds the central record of which provider holds which child's account, which is why its tool, rather than a guess or a search of old letters, is the reliable starting point.

There is no fee and no deadline. The finder tool is free¹, and an account that is never claimed still belongs to the person it was opened for. What changes over time is the wrapper: once the account holder turns 18 and the fund matures, an untouched account is moved into an ISA or a tax-free protected account rather than staying open for new money⁵. Tracing it early means the account holder, rather than the provider's default process, decides where the money goes.

Details that help identify the account

The finder tool asks for identifying details, and the provider will ask for more when you make contact. The information HMRC's own rules require for matured account records gives a sense of what is needed: the account holder's full name, address of permanent residence including postcode, date of birth, and National Insurance number or the Child Trust Fund's unique reference number⁶. In practice, a young person tracing their own account needs their National Insurance number, which arrives shortly before their 16th birthday, plus proof of identity for the provider.

The original scheme paperwork carried the same identifiers. Each voucher, sent by post to the person entitled to Child Benefit for the child, showed the child's full name, date of birth, unique reference number, the voucher's expiry date and the amount of the initial contribution⁷. If any of that old paperwork survives in a family's files, the unique reference number is the fastest way for a provider to locate the account, but it is not essential: the gov.uk tool can find the account from the holder's own details alone¹.

A parent or guardian managing the account for a child under 16 will be the "registered contact" on the account, and providers will deal with that person rather than the child. From 16, the account holder can take control of the account themselves¹, which means a young person who has reached that age can trace the account and deal with the provider in their own name. The provider will still need to verify identity, typically with a passport, driving licence or similar document, before discussing the balance.

Accounts the government opened for a child

Not every lost Child Trust Fund was opened by a parent. If a parent or guardian did not set one up, the government automatically opened one¹. These accounts, sometimes called "revenue allocated" accounts, were placed with providers HMRC had approved, and the child's voucher money was invested there without the family choosing anything at all.

The scale of this was significant. By April 2012, around 6.1 million CTF accounts had been set up through the scheme, and the remaining 0.2 million accounts were set up after April 2012 for eligible children where there had been a delay opening an account⁸. So if your family has no memory of any Child Trust Fund and no paperwork exists, that is not evidence there is no account: it may be exactly the kind the government opened on the child's behalf.

The law sets out how this works. A Child Trust Fund may be held only with a person approved by HMRC (the Act still says "Inland Revenue") as an account provider⁹, and when an application is made the provider must open an account of the right description for the child and inform HMRC¹⁰. Regulations also allow the Treasury or the Secretary of State to appoint a person to manage a child's fund in prescribed circumstances⁹, and the Regulations apply this to children who are looked after: where a child has been looked after for a continuous period of at least twelve months and certain conditions are satisfied, the person appointed by the Treasury or the Secretary of State has authority to manage the account¹¹.

For children in care, and for carers and adoptive parents granted formal parental responsibility, the government publishes specific guidance on how to take over management of a Child Trust Fund or Junior ISA¹². If you were in local authority care as a child, or you are adopting or have parental responsibility for a child with a fund, that guidance and the provider are the places to start, because the usual parental route may not apply.

The figures: how much is unclaimed and what accounts are worth

The headline numbers are large and have grown steadily. As of 5 April 2026, there were around 2.9 million open Child Trust Fund accounts, of which around 827,000 were matured accounts continuing as CTF accounts². Two years earlier, as of 5 April 2024, there were around 4.2 million open accounts, of which around 671,000 were matured accounts continuing as CTFs¹³. The number of matured accounts still sitting unclaimed has therefore risen by around 156,000 in two years, from around 671,000 to around 827,000².

The value sitting in these accounts is measured slightly differently by different bodies, which is worth understanding. Which? reported in April 2026 that more than 750,000 CTFs remain unclaimed, with an estimated £1.5bn to £1.6bn sitting in these accounts³. Earlier, in October 2024, it reported nearly £1.4bn of unclaimed cash across unclaimed CTFs, a jump from £1bn the previous financial year⁵. A 2023 investigation put the total lost money in Child Trust Funds at £2.2bn across 1 million people, an average of £2,200 each¹⁴. The differences come from what is counted: matured accounts only, all unclaimed accounts, or a wider definition of "lost" money.

On values, the official statistics are the most reliable guide. The average market value of a CTF in April 2026 was £2,642, with stakeholder accounts averaging £2,521 and non-stakeholder accounts £2,855. A matured account continuing as a CTF averaged £2,310². NS&I's guidance, drawing on HMRC data published September 2025, gives the average Child Trust Fund as worth approximately £2,200¹. Between September 2020 and April 2026, around 3,784,000 accounts matured in total, of which around 2,958,000 were claimed or automatically transferred to an ISA as of April 2026².

What drives the size of a Child Trust Fund

Three things determine what a given account is worth: what the government put in, what the family added, and how the money was invested.

The government's contributions were fixed by the scheme's rules. Most children received around £250 each from the government at the time their account was set up⁸, and children from low-income families and children in care received an additional £250, around £500 in total⁸. In total, 2.2 million children, 36% of the total, received additional government payments⁸. The government paid more than £2 billion into CTFs for 6.3 million children born between 1 September 2002 and 2 January 2011⁸. The scheme was scaled back from August 2010, to £50 for the majority of children and £100 for those from lower-income families¹⁵, and children first eligible by virtue of later provisions received an initial contribution of £100⁷.

Family contributions mattered too. Between the scheme beginning in 2005 and 2010, 37% of CTFs received additional funds from sources other than the government⁸. In 2011-12, the first year after the scheme closed to children born after 2 January 2011, 11% of CTFs for children from low-income families received additional payments, with an average payment of £202⁸. An account that received regular family contributions will be worth far more than one holding only the government's initial payment.

The third factor is investment type. Accounts were opened either as stakeholder accounts, which invested in shares, or as other types such as savings accounts, and the averages differ: £2,521 for stakeholder accounts against £2,855 for non-stakeholder accounts as of April 2026². A shares-based account's value reflects market growth over up to two decades; a savings-based one reflects interest rates. Neither figure is a prediction of what any single account holds, which is why contacting the provider for the actual balance is the only way to know.

The rules that govern a Child Trust Fund

The scheme's legal framework explains why accounts behave as they do. The Child Trust Fund was introduced in 2005 as a savings account for children¹⁶, under the Child Trust Funds Act 2004 and the Child Trust Fund Regulations 2004 (SI 2004/1450), which set the account rules¹⁷. The Act's notes describe its purpose as providing children born from September 2002 with an endowment of £250¹⁸.

Several rules shape what an account is. It is the account for a single child, the "named child", and no child may hold more than one account⁷. The terms of the fund must secure that it is held in the name of a child⁹. No subscription to the account is accepted until the account has been properly opened⁷. Uninvested sums held in connection with a CTF must be held in a designated bank account, under the FCA's rules²⁰.

The rules also govern movement. The regulations require an account provider, at the request of the registered contact, to transfer all the investments under the fund, or an amount representing their value in cash, to a protected child account chosen by the registered contact, and to close the CTF once the transfers are complete²¹. And where a provider stops managing funds, regulations may require it to hand over the information it holds to the provider that takes over⁹, which is why an account can survive a provider merger or closure.

There are obligations on providers, with teeth. The Act's notes record a penalty for late claims or failure to provide documents or information in time, set at no more than £300 and no more than £60 for each day the failure continues¹⁸. A reader tracing an account is not exposed to these penalties, which apply to providers, but they illustrate that the scheme's record-keeping duties are legal duties, not courtesies.

How your money is protected while it is lost

A Child Trust Fund that has been forgotten is not money at risk of vanishing. The fund must be held in the child's name⁹, with an approved account provider⁹, and HMRC publishes the list of authorised Child Trust Fund account providers on gov.uk²². If a provider has changed name, merged or closed, the account transfers with its records, and the regulations provide for information to pass to whichever provider becomes authorised to manage the fund⁹.

At maturity, the protection continues in a different form. If nothing is done with the money, the CTF provider will transfer it to an ISA if it offers one; otherwise the funds are transferred into a tax-free protected account⁵. The money remains the account holder's, tax-free, and can still be claimed after the transfer. The dedicated guide to Child Trust Funds explains what happens at 18 in more detail, and moving a Child Trust Fund into a Junior ISA covers the transfer route for under-18s.

One caution applies while tracing. HMRC may contact young people with a matured Child Trust Fund by letter²³, and letters nudging account holders to take action were sent in April 2026⁴. But a letter about a "found" account that asks for an upfront fee is a classic scam shape. HMRC publishes guidance on checking whether a letter you have received from it is genuine²³, and the finder tool itself is free¹. No legitimate part of the process involves paying anyone to release money that is already yours.

One scheme across all four nations

The Child Trust Fund was a single UK-wide scheme. The Child Trust Funds Regulations 2004 apply to the UK, with distinct provisions for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland defining looked after children and lost or abandoned children by reference to each nation's own legislation¹¹. The Regulations' territorial extent is England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland¹⁹. So the eligibility dates, the finder tool and the process for claiming are the same wherever in the UK the account holder lives now, and wherever the account was opened.

The nation-specific provisions matter mainly for children who were in care. Because the Regulations define looked after children by reference to each nation's legislation¹¹, the route by which the Treasury or the Secretary of State appointed a person to manage a child's account depended on the care rules of the nation concerned. Scotland in particular publishes its own guidance for young people with experience of care, which notes that a person born between 1 September 2002 and 2 January 2011 may have a Child Trust Fund²⁴. Care-experienced young people in Scotland may therefore find that guidance a useful complement to the UK-wide finder tool.

For everyone else, nation makes no practical difference to tracing. The gov.uk finder tool, the National Insurance number requirement and the ages of 16 and 18 apply identically in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The only differences a reader is likely to meet are in the support available alongside the scheme, such as the Scottish guidance for care leavers, rather than in the scheme's own rules.

Free help with tracing

Tracing a Child Trust Fund costs nothing, and several free routes exist. The gov.uk finder tool is the primary one: it is free, official, and returns the provider's name directly¹. HMRC's broader guidance on financial help also sets out the Child Trust Fund position for eligible children²⁵. Once the provider is named, the provider itself is the next point of contact, and the list of authorised providers on gov.uk helps confirm you are dealing with a legitimate firm²².

For care-experienced young people, mygov.scot offers guidance on benefits and money, including Child Trust Funds, for young people with experience of care in Scotland²⁴. For carers and adoptive parents, the government's factsheet explains how to take over management of a Child Trust Fund or Junior ISA when formal parental responsibility is granted¹². Which?'s reporting on unclaimed CTFs, including its coverage of the government taskforce set up to reunite young adults with forgotten savings, tracks the scheme's progress and is free to read⁴.

Private tracing companies exist and charge fees, but there is nothing they can find that the free government tool cannot: HMRC holds the central record, and its finder returns the provider's name at no cost¹. If you have already traced the account and want to understand what to do with the money, the guides to Junior ISAs, how ISAs work and how your ISA is protected cover the options from here.