Martin Lewis: 80,000 teens' Child Trust Fund cash locked away. Government holds the key – my letter

MSE_Eesha

This is the discussion to link on the back of Martin's blog. Please read the blog first, as this discussion follows it.

Read Martin's Martin Lewis: 80,000 teens' Child Trust Fund cash locked away. Government holds the key – my letter to the Children's Minister Blog.

Carolandtheboys

Life for families with a young person who has disabilities is a constant battle.  Fighting for education, health & social care continues from childhood to adulthood.  there has got to be a way for the Government and I include the devolved administrations in that, to make this simpler.  Why should our young people and their families be penalised for doing what they felt was best for them.  I have two sons with additional needs and managed to save a small amount each month for them  from when they were born.  When I started this, it was to perhaps contribute to their college/university education but as it turned out their life and ours took a whole different track.  our eldest was not part of the CTF so the monies were not in his name so we were able to use it to benefit the whole family - if memory serves it went towards a great holiday, and improving his living environment.  Our youngest was born in the years when the CTF scheme started so we paid a similar amount for him.  we were able to release his funds but had to have  a guardianship order in place for him which cost us around £900 - at the time we were in a position to pay those lawyers fees and this order was necessary for medical and welfare reasons but it meant using a lot of his benefit money to pay that.  Again, why should these young people and their families be penalised especially to do with savings thresholds and DWP benefits - any other 18 year old could withdraw that money and blow it on day 1 with no penalty - young people with ASN have to wade through red tape which seems like discrimination to me.    These are just my thoughts and I hope it helps to give a point of view

Littledaler

This government policy is unbelievably, outrageously cruel.  What possible justification is there for stamping on the already down-trodden?  As for "... increasing awareness through its new toolkit" is, quite frankly, insulting.  Whoever made this decision should be downright ashamed of themselves and I sincerely hope that at some point their consciences trouble them.

Upsetgrandma

We discovered that my grandson had a child trust fund when he received a letter from Nationwide informing him that it had matured.  My daughter in law had set it up for him but had unfortunately died 6 months before his 18th birthday.  My grandson is very high on the autistic scale and is non-verbal but, despite trying every which way to get the money out, Nationwide have told us that the only way is for my grandson to visit the branch in person and request his money.  I didn't know which way to turn and have almost given up so it's great to find that other people are in the same position and that Martin is championing the cause.  Thank you Martin.

BJV

OMG I am so sorry for your loss. 

It must be ??? Well, I hope never to find out how hard it is.

I would contact them to explain the situation if they insist say that you want to make a complaint. Once they have investigated they will either realize that they are being unreasonable and allow you access or carry on being unfair.

If they insist on being unreasonable and do not uphold your complaint that will give you the right to complain to the Financial Ombudsman.  

They are amazing, non-judgemental, and above all else, they are fair normal people who can look at it from both sides. But you can not complain until you have been through the Nationwides complaints procedure. 

I know that this is no consolation but I understand that you are not alone in having these issues.

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/

Upsetgrandma

Hi, thanks for your advice.  We have complained and appealed to Nationwide but they are following "the rules" and our only option would be to take out a costly protection claim which would be more costly than the money we are trying to claim.  There needs to be a change in government policy which Martin is trying for - keeping fingers crossed.

Steph62

My grandson was born in the UK but emigrated to Australia with his family when he was four months old. I was responsible for his CTF until he turned 18 two years ago. He’s now at university in Melbourne but would need to fly to the UK and personally apply to withdraw the money from his CTF which is now in a Nationwide Isa. The small amount involved just doesn’t justify the cost of the airfare so the money will remain in limbo. What a crazy system.