CTF Bulletin 8 - Local Authorities and Health Trusts

27 February 2009

This Bulletin advises you about:

£100 annual top-up payments to children

Background

The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), announced in their white paper Care Matters: Time for Change, that they would be providing funding to make extra payments to the Child Trust Fund (CTF) accounts of those children who have spent a continuous year as a looked after child in a Local Authority or Health Trust.

A payment is payable for every whole year after 1 April 2007 that a child has been looked after. The £100 annual top-up payments have already commenced and are being made to the CTF accounts of eligible children across the UK.

A 'whole year' means the date the child became looked after all the way through to the day before the anniversary that they became looked after. For example, Child A becomes looked after on 4 July 2008. His 'whole year' runs from 4 July 2008 until 3 July 2009.

DCSF have issued guidance for Local Authorities in England and the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) has provided guidance for use in Wales. The guidance explains how Local Authorities can make these payments. Guidance for Scotland and Northern Ireland has not been provided to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) yet.

If you have any questions regarding the policy, guidance and/or the timing for making payments please contact Michael Allured at DCSF via email.

HMRC has updated the CTF Looked After Children Guidance for Local Authorities and includes links to the DCSF and WAG guidance. This is covered in paragraphs 9.1 to 9.4 and annexes B and C of the HMRC guidance.

The process to follow

Identify all the children that have been looked after in your local authority/health trust that are CTF eligible (born on or after 1 September 2002) that have, since 1 April 2007, spent a whole year as looked after. A payment is due to a child, regardless of the placement type or the legal basis of that placement. A payment is due for each subsequent whole year spent as a looked after child following 1 April 2007.

To make the payments you will need:

the child's name
Date of Birth (DOB)
Unique Reference Number (URN)
name and contact details of the CTF account provider
CTF account number

If you do not have all of these details, you will need to obtain them to make payments. In the first instance you should contact the person with parental responsibility to obtain the details.

If the person with parental responsibility cannot help you, you can contact the Child Trust Fund Office (CTFO) to ask for the information. You must complete the table at annex B of the HMRC local authority guidance (or appendix 1 of the DCSF guidance) and fax it to CTFO 0191 225 1282. CTFO will be able to provide most of the details you require. HMRC cannot provide the account number as they do not hold this information.

You will need to contact the CTF provider to obtain the account number when you have this you will be able to make the payment.

As children qualify for the £100 annual top up payment for every whole year that they spend as a looked after child with a local authority/health trust, please update the child's records with the information you obtain about their CTF account to streamline the payment process in any subsequent years.

If you are not directly responsible for making these annual top up payments to children, it is important that you pass this circular to the relevant individual/team within your local authority/health trust.

Please also ensure the only fax number used is that shown above (0191 225 1282). No other fax numbers should be used. Some CTF15 Returns are still being sent using old fax numbers please update your records if you have not already done so.