Child Trust Fund

The Child Trust Fund (CTF) is a Government initiative, designed to encourage both parents and children to save or invest tax-efficiently. It's available to children born between 1 September 2002 and 31 December 2010 and it aims to ensure that children have some money behind them to help make the transition into adult life and when they reach 18.

For each eligible child, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) issued a voucher which is used to open the account in your child's name. With effect from 3 January 2011 no new Child Trust Fund vouchers have been issued. Those with existing vouchers will have until the expiry date shown on their voucher to open a Child Trust Fund. However if your child was not eligible for a voucher Nationwide offer alternative options to save or invest for your child’s future.

There are three types of Child Trust Fund (CTF); a cash fund where the money is held in a traditional building society account, an equity stakeholder fund where the money is held in a unit trust and when your child is 13, the money is gradually moved to lower risk investments, and a share account where your child’s money is invested in companies’ shares, so it grows if those shares do well. In the share account money isn’t moved into lower risk investments as the account moves towards maturity.

To open a CTF account you must choose which type of account is most suitable for you and your child. You can always transfer between account types during the term of the account.

You can use a voucher to open a new cash CTF with Nationwide but we no longer accept vouchers to open new equity stakeholder CTF accounts. You can find lots of information on providers who do offer these types of accounts on the government pages about CTF.

You can still top up your existing Nationwide equity stakeholder or cash CTF account.

You can still transfer your existing CTF to a Nationwide equity stakeholder or cash CTF account.

For more information check out the other pages in this section of our website.