• contents
• keywords & contacts
• quick guide
• forms library
• values
• contact us
• search

Contents

1. The Trust Fund
2. Arrangements for Looked After Children
3. Summary of Child Trust Fund Account Top-up Process
4. Statutory Guidance

1. The Trust Fund

The Child Trust Fund is a long term savings and investment account promoted by the Government.  All children born on or after 1st September 2002 receive an initial payment. There are extra funds for low income families, including Looked After Children. 

The fund cannot be accessed until the young person is 18 years of age. There are a number of investment arrangements set up where the money can be deposited. The Child Trust Fund payment is initiated once a Child Benefit award is agreed and will be paid to that claimant. 

If a child benefit award has been made for a child who has entitlement to the Child Trust Fund prior to becoming looked after then the fund will go to the person who made the Child Benefit claim. 

2. Arrangements for Looked After Children

2.1 Duties of the Local Authority

Only a person with Parental Responsibility (PR) can manage the Child Trust Fund account. Local Authorities cannot manage the Child Trust Fund account. In those cases where there is no one appropriate with PR the Child Trust Fund Office (CTFO) will arrange for the Official Solicitor to manage the Child Trust Fund accounts for those children.

The role of the Lambeth Council is to help identify those children who do not have a CTF account or who have no one appropriate with parental responsibility. Lambeth Council has a statutory duty to provide some basic information to the Child Trust Fund Office (CTFO) of HMRC about the looked after children in its care to ensure that they receive their Child Trust Fund account. Lambeth Council must:

• Inform HMRC of eligible children who become looked after, and
• Inform HMRC of looked after children with no-one (or no-one appropriate) with parental responsibility

In Lambeth the Social Care Finance Officer in Access to Resources Team sends a monthly return on the 7th of each month to the CTFO stating which children have become looked after, who were born after 1 September 2002 and who therefore should have a trust fund. Where a child becomes looked after soon after birth and would otherwise be eligible for Child Benefit the CTFO will open a Child Trust Fund for the child.

The Looked After Child’s Social Worker is responsible for ensuring that any looked after children who fall into the above category have their details entered on Framework immediately they become Looked After. This enables the Social Care Finance Officer to complete a collective return on behalf of Lambeth Children and Young People’s Services.

For a Looked After Child to be treated as having no one or no one appropriate with parental responsibility, they must fall into one of the following categories:

• Where there is no person, or no person other than the Local Authority who has parental responsibility for the child
• Where it is part of the Care Plan for the child that the child will live permanently away from the home and will not have face to face contact with any parent having PR for the child
• Where an order has been made under S 34(4) of the children act 1989 to terminate contact between the child and person with parental responsibility and there is no one else in a position to manage the child’s Child Trust Fund account
• Where the Court of Protection has appointed a receiver for a person with PR or determined that such a person is a “patient” for purposes of section 7 of the Mental Health Act and there is no one in a position to manage the child’s account
• Where the child has been lost or abandoned (within the meaning of S 20 (1) (b) of the Children Act 1989), and there is no prospect in the foreseeable future of reunification

When a looked after child is eligible for the Child Trust Fund and has no one or no one appropriate with parental responsibility, it is the responsibility of the child’s social worker to notify the Social Care Finance Officer, responsible for sending in the monthly returns. 

The information that the Child Trust Fund Office requires with these returns on each child is contained on the CTF15 Form and Notes and includes:  

• Name and Address of Local Authority
• Name of Local Authority officer responsible for return
• Unique identifier for the Local Authority (London Borough of Lambeth’s number is: 11090)
• Child’s full name, gender and date of birth
• Home Office reference number, where child is subject to immigration controls
• Date child was first looked after by Local Authority
• Other names of the child
• Birth parent’s details (it is suggested that in most cases this should be the child’s mother as in vast majority of cases it is the mother who will have applied for Child Benefit)
• If the child has died
• Appropriate person with parental responsibility 
• If there is no appropriate person with Parental Responsibility

2.2 Awareness Raising

The child’s social worker should engage with the child, according to their age and understanding and with the child’s carers to ensure that the child has an understanding of the existence of the Child Trust Fund and over time is able to gain the understanding and life skills to appreciate the implications of owning the fund and planning for adulthood. As the child gets older they can be directed to the information to the dedicated CTF website.

It is also expected that looked after children will receive financial education in relation to their CTF account through the school system, in the same way as other children.

2.3 Children Placed for Adoption

When a child is adopted the adoptive parents will acquire Parental Responsibility and with it responsibility for administering the child trust fund.

2.4 Top up Payments

2.4.1 Statutory Requirements

Top-up payments must be made for any child with a Child Trust Fund account who has been looked after continuously for a year or more (from 1 April 2007), regardless of placement type and legal status. A child is eligible for top-up payments as soon as they have spent a whole year in care. 

Local Authorities are required to make top-up payments of £100 per annum for each eligible child and will receive funding to do this. Local authorities are permitted to make Child Trust Fund top-up payments in excess of £100 per annum. A maximum of £1200 can be deposited in a child’s Child Trust Fund account in any year by any third party, for example parents and family. Top-up payments by local authorities will count towards this overall annual limit.

Where the child’s Child Trust Fund account details are not held by the local authority, the local authority should seek out the child’s account details from a person with Parental Responsibility. If they cannot obtain account information this way, the local authority should then contact the Child Trust Fund Office to obtain the account details. If the child has previously been in care for a year or more the local authority should already hold account information.

The local authority is then required to make further top-up payments of no less than £100 for each subsequent year that an eligible child is looked after.

2.4.2 Local Arrangements

Lambeth Council will make the required top-up payments of £100 per annum for eligible children. The Social Care Finance Officer will maintain a schedule of the children who are expected to be eligible for top-up payments and will identify from that when any of those children have been Looked After continuously for a year or more and are therefore eligible for the top-up at that point.

The Social Care Finance Officer will then request the account details either from the child’s social worker (who will contact the person with Parental Responsibility managing the fund) or from the Child Trust Fund Office and payment will then be arranged. If there are any complicating factors with regard to the management of the fund by a person holding PR the child’s social worker will advise the Social Care Finance Officer of the circumstances.

3. Summary of Child Trust Fund Account Top-up Process

Action:	By:
1) Send new looked after children entrant information to Child Trust Fund Office on a monthly basis, if necessary stating that there is no one or no one appropriate with parental responsibility and the details of every child born on or after 1 September 2002 who was being looked after on their 7th birthday.	Social Care Finance Officer
2) Identify when a child has spent a year being Looked After.	Social Care Finance Officer
3) Make a top-up payment of not less than £100 into the child’s CTF account.	Social Care Finance Officer
4) Where the child’s CTF account details are not held by Lambeth Council, seek out the child’s account details from a person with Parental Responsibility. If they cannot obtain account information this way, the Social Care Finance Officer will contact Child Trust Fund Office to obtain the account details. (If the child has previously been in care for a year or more the Lambeth Council should already hold account information).	Social Care Finance Officer
5) Store the child’s account details securely as part of their care record.	Social Care Finance Officer
6) Make further payments of no less than £100 for each subsequent year that a child is looked after.	Social Care Finance Officer

4. Statutory Guidance

Child Trust Fund and Looked After Children – Guidance for Local Authorities 2004.

Child Trust Fund Account Top-up Payments for Looked After Children: Statutory Guidance on Local Authority Practice in England.

End