Child Trust Fund Statistics

The Child Trust Fund (CTF) accounts are opened with the voucher from the government. The first vouchers were issued in January 2005. The quarterly statistics report the number of vouchers issued in the stated period and how many of those vouchers have been used by parents to open an account to date together with the respective percentage. The information on the tables below is derived from the number of accounts opened as reported by providers to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

Most providers operate a 'cooling off' period of between 14 and 31 days when first presented with CTF voucher; during this period the account cannot be reported as opened to HMRC. This means that the number of accounts opened is always less than the number of vouchers already presented to providers and awaiting the end of the cooling off period.

Parents have one year to open an account from the date the voucher is issued. Parents can choose to open their child's account in one of the three types designed for the CTF scheme, a stakeholder or non-stakeholder, the latter can be opened as either a shares or cash account. Further information can be found by visiting the Child Trust Fund website (opens new window). If they do not open an account within a year HMRC will arrange for a Revenue Allocated Account to be opened for the child, this will be a stakeholder account. HMRC rotates through a list of CTF provides who accept and open accounts for children whose parents do not use the voucher before its expiry date.

Quarterly vouchers and accounts