Thousands missing out on Child Trust Fund government money

Kae, who wants to be an actor and is studying performing arts at Coleg Gwent, is urging other young people to check what they may be owed.

“Don’t just leave it and do nothing because you might not receive anything if you don’t look,” he said.

Kae said he had invested his money in an ISA to save for a house in future.

But at first he struggled to find out the details of his CTF because they can be held by a variety of different providers, and in the end used the Share Foundation’s free CTF finder.

“I thought i’d get it automatically but I didn’t hear anything,” he said.

“I thought the government would give it to me but I actually had to get it by myself.”

An estimated £83m is lying unclaimed in Wales alone according to The Share Foundation, a charity that runs accounts for young people in care on behalf of the UK government.

Most CTFs were set up by the child’s parents with a voucher worth £250, or £500 in the case of low-income families, from the UK government.

An additional government payment was made when the child reached the age of seven and family members could also top them up.

In some cases the Welsh government also made a small payment to the funds of Welsh children.

Where parents or guardians didn’t set them up, the CTFs were created by the UK government on the child’s behalf.