HMRC To Contact Over 750,000 Young People About Unclaimed £2,200 Savings — How To Claim Yours

Thousands of young adults in the UK are about to receive letters from the taxman telling them they have money they probably forgot existed. HMRC announced last week it will write to all 21-year-olds whose Child Trust Fund accounts remain unclaimed, as part of a government push to reunite more than 750,000 people with savings worth £2,200 ($2,910) on average, GOV.UK disclosed.

'Hundreds of thousands of young people in this country don't know they have a CTF, let alone how to access it,' said Lucy Rigby, Economic Secretary to the Treasury. 'Some will have a couple of thousand pounds sat there that would really help them as they begin adult life.'

Child Trust Funds was a Labour-era savings scheme that ran between 2005 and 2011. The government deposited at least £250 ($331) into a tax-free account for every child born in the UK during that window—1 September 2002 to 2 January 2011. Families on lower incomes received £500 ($662), with a further £250 paid at age seven. Parents and guardians could add up to £1,200 ($1,590) a year. Around 6.3 million accounts were opened before the scheme was replaced by Junior ISAs.

The government poured roughly £3.3 billion ($4.4 billion) into those accounts. Families contributed another £2.5 billion ($3.3 billion). Investment growth pushed balances higher still. HMRC data published in September 2025 put the average matured CTF at £2,242 ($2,970), though some accounts are worth far more depending on how much parents put in, GOV.UK revealed.

Account holders can take control at 16 and withdraw from 18. But families moved houses, lost paperwork, or simply never told their children the money was there.

Why HMRC Letters Are Going To 21-Year-Olds First

HMRC picked 21 as the target age for a practical reason. By that point, most people have filed a tax return through PAYE employment or dealt with the student finance system, which means their address on HMRC's records is more likely to be current. A letter sent to a 19-year-old who moved out of their parents' house six months ago has a decent chance of going nowhere.

The exact number of letters heading out has not been confirmed. HMRC said it would be 'many thousands,' dispatched in stages. No end date has been set.

Rigby also held a roundtable with CTF providers earlier in the week. Nationwide, HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, and several smaller mutual societies attended to discuss how the industry itself could do more to flag dormant accounts to their holders.

One immediate risk is fraud. HMRC will only contact CTF holders by post. Any email, text message, or phone call claiming to be about a Child Trust Fund is a scam. Suspicious texts can be forwarded to 60599 and reported through GOV.UK.

How To Track Down Your Child's Trust Fund For Free

Nobody needs to wait for a letter. HMRC runs a free online tracing tool that takes about five minutes to complete. You need your name, date of birth, address, and National Insurance number. HMRC responds within three weeks with the name of the bank or building society holding the account. Parents and guardians can search on behalf of a child using the child's NI number or a unique reference number from old CTF paperwork.

The tool saw heavy use last year. More than 563,000 people searched for their CTF in the 12 months to August 2025, with September 2024 alone generating over 71,000 requests.

Once found, savers contact their provider directly to withdraw the money or transfer it into an adult ISA to keep its tax-free wrapper. There is no deadline to claim. The funds belong to the account holder indefinitely.

HMRC has also warned against paying third-party firms to do what the government tool does for free. Some claim companies charge hundreds of pounds and target young adults through social media advertising. In 2025, the Advertising Standards Authority banned a set of misleading CTF ads on TikTok after complaints that they falsely told users they had 'nothing to lose,' MoneySavingExpert said.