HM Revenue and Customs has issued a fresh alert after revealing that around 827,000 young adults still have matured Child Trust Funds waiting to be claimed.
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The average value of those accounts is now £2,310, meaning some people could have thousands of pounds sitting in their name without realising it.
The figures relate to Child Trust Funds — tax-free savings accounts that were created for children born between 1 September 2002 and 2 January 2011.
For some young adults, the account may have been opened so long ago that they have no memory of it at all.
And in cases where parents or guardians did not open one themselves, HMRC could have opened an account on the child’s behalf.
That is one reason why so many accounts remain untouched today.
827,000 accounts are still sitting there
According to HMRC’s latest figures, almost 3 million Child Trust Fund accounts belonging to 18 to 24-year-olds have already been claimed or transferred into an ISA since September 2020.
But around 827,000 matured accounts remain unclaimed.
The average balance of a matured Child Trust Fund still continuing as a CTF was £2,310 as of April 2026.
That does not mean every account contains exactly £2,310.
Some will hold less.
Others may be worth considerably more depending on the original contribution, later payments and how the money was invested.
But the scale of the unclaimed accounts means hundreds of thousands of people could still be unaware they have savings in their name.
Some people never knew the account existed
Child Trust Funds were introduced to give children a financial asset that could be accessed when they reached adulthood.
Parents or guardians were normally responsible for opening the account.
However, where that did not happen, HMRC could allocate a Child Trust Fund provider and arrange for an account to be opened automatically.
That means somebody who is now in their late teens or early twenties may have an account even if they have never personally seen paperwork relating to it.
The account matures when the holder turns 18.
At that point, the money belongs to them.
They can normally withdraw it, leave it invested or transfer it into another eligible account.
HMRC is actively trying to find the owners
The government has stepped up efforts to reconnect young adults with these forgotten accounts.
A Child Trust Fund Taskforce has been established to bring government and savings providers together, with the aim of reducing the number of matured accounts that remain untouched.
The oldest matured Child Trust Funds have now been sitting unclaimed for more than six years.
Economic Secretary to the Treasury Lucy Rigby said some young people may still not know that these savings are waiting for them.
The issue is not that the government is holding a pot of cash waiting to hand it out.
The money remains with banks, building societies and other Child Trust Fund providers.
The challenge for some people is simply discovering where their account is.
