Child tax fund parent withholding account information

sfm82

Hi there,

Hopefully someone can help me as yorkshire building society aren't helpful.

My 16 year old stepdaughter(SD) moved in with her father and I 2 years ago and is largely estranged from her biological mother. We want her to have access to her ctf so she can change the account into a junior isa and start saving for herself now she has a Saturday job.

My husband asked her mother for the account number but she won't give it to us and says my SD can have it when she's 18.

I've done a bit of research and I've seen that at 16 my SD can take control of the account. My question is if she can do this without the account number? We have the CTF ref from HM revenues and customs and we know it is held at Yorkshire building society.

When we phone YBS earlier and asked they had no idea and also didn't know what the process would even be for my SD to get the account when she's 18!

Thanks for any response I know it might be a tricky one!

sfm82

Child trust fund not tax fund!!

xylophone

This comes from the original YBS PDF (which can be downloaded from the internet).

The rules have of course changed in that a CTF can now be transferred to JISA.

Subscription amounts have increased.


Child Trust Fund – Savings Account
1. Eligibility
Prior to the withdrawal of the scheme, children were eligible for the CTF as long as:
1. the child was born on or after 1 September 2002 and up to 2 January 2011 inclusive
2. the child lived in the UK
3. Child Benefit had been awarded for the child.
Accounts can only be held in the name of a child by a person with parental responsibility for the child. Only one CTF account can be held per child.
2. Registered contact
An adult opening a CTF account on behalf of a child will become the account's 'Registered Contact'. Once the child reaches 16, any existing 'Registered Contact' on the account can no longer act and the child must apply to become the 'Registered Contact".




See also
https://www.skintedmintedmum.co.uk/skinted-blog/how-to-transfer-a-child-trust-fund-ctf-to-jisa-with-a-double-scoop-of-tax-allowance.html

and

https://www.gov.uk/child-trust-funds/managing-the-account

When your child is 16 or 18
Once your child turns 16, they can either:

take over the account by contacting the CTF provider
leave you in charge of the account
When the child turns 18, they take over the account and can take out the money.

sfm82

Thank you for that info, xylophone, do you happen to know if my SD apply to become the registered contact for the account without knowing the account number? When I spoke to ybs they had no idea and I can't find any info on the Internet and it seems like the buck stops here with YBS.

zagfles

sfm82 wrote: »

Thank you for that info, xylophone, do you happen to know if my SD apply to become the registered contact for the account without knowing the account number? When I spoke to ybs they had no idea and I can't find any info on the Internet and it seems like the buck stops here with YBS.

It sounds like you just spoke to someone clueless, a lot of banks seem to employ clueless staff these days who aren't capable of answering questions or going away and finding out the answer if they don't know.

I'd suggest you write to them (or your SD does), they must have a process for this sort of thing. Anyone could lose their account documentation and not know their account number.

xylophone

It is unsatisfactory that they were unable at least to give guidance on the telephone.

You may regard this as "over the top" but there is an on line complaints form here and at least your stepdaughter might get some attention quickly!

https://www.ybs.co.uk/contact-us/help-us-improve/index.html

She could express her disappointment that when she asked for guidance from (the clerk at a branch? A telephone help line?), the person was unable to advise her how to link up again with the CTF for which details (apart from the HMRC reference number) have been lost.

It would be a start?

sfm82

Thank you for this, I did think it odd that they were so unhelpful, I may take her to a branch with ID and the letter from hmrc, then take it further if they are also useless!