Disabled Children Accessing Child Trust Funds

I am concerned about the problems disabled children are having accessing their savings in Child Trust Funds and Junior ISAs. Parents and guardians of disabled children should be able to ensure that their children can access the money in these accounts without undue difficulties.

Unfortunately, the Government has given no indication that it will extend the appointee scheme in the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to cover Child Trust Funds or Junior ISAs.

Labour MPs, including shadow ministers, have asked what steps Ministers intend to take to make it easier for families to get these Child Trust Funds and Junior ISAs unlocked. The Opposition has also asked the Government for an assessment of the number of people who may be impacted, but Ministers have said this is something that they are unable to provide as the Government does not hold this information.

I note that in England and Wales the Court of Protection is responsible for approving applications to unlock Child Trust Funds and Junior ISAs. As you may be aware, in 2021 the Court of Protection began a programme of work to digitise and streamline the property and affairs application process, this includes an online application process and changes to the application forms. A pilot of these improvements showed that application waiting times had been reduced from 24 weeks to 8 weeks. These improvements were rolled out for all court users in February 2023. The Government has since confirmed that the forms are still under review and steps are being taken to simplify these as much as possible. Furthermore, from December 2020 Court of Protection fees can be waived for applications relating to Child Trust Funds in the majority of cases.

More widely, I hope that Ministers will cooperate with stakeholders in both the disability and finance sectors to raise awareness of this matter and ensure that materials are available to support parents and guardians to navigate the process.