827,000 Child Trust Funds are unclaimed. The average is £2,310.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) said on 23 September 2026 that 827,000 matured Child Trust Fund accounts are still unclaimed, holding an average of £2,310 each. The count runs to April 2026, the latest in HMRC’s annual savings statistics.

This is not a grant, a benefit or a prize draw. It is a savings account opened in the account holder’s own name when they were a child, started with a payment from the government, and it is legally theirs from the day they turn 18.

Who has one, and how to find it

Child Trust Funds were opened for children born between 1 September 2002 and 2 January 2011. Each account matures on the holder’s 18th birthday, so anyone born on or before 23 September 2008 has one that has already matured. Almost 3 million accounts have been claimed or transferred since the first ones matured in September 2020.

Most people who have not claimed do not know which bank, building society or fund manager holds the account. GOV.UK has a finder for exactly that. HMRC says it takes about five minutes to submit, using the young person’s National Insurance number and date of birth, and most people get the provider’s name back within three weeks if they apply online. Postal applications take longer.

Nothing is lost by waiting

There is no deadline and no forfeit. Where a provider received no instructions at maturity, the rules require the money to be moved into a protected account — either a matured Child Trust Fund account, or a cash or stocks and shares ISA offered by the original provider. HMRC’s own guidance is explicit that funds in either one “will keep their tax advantaged status”. Lucy Rigby, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, said the oldest matured accounts are now more than six years old.

So the money is safe. What waiting costs is choice: it stays in whatever the original provider offers, rather than somewhere the owner picked.

The transfer that does not use your ISA allowance

What you do with the money	Does it use your £20,000 ISA allowance?
Tell the provider to move the matured account into an adult ISA	No — the subscription is disregarded
Withdraw it as cash, then pay it into an ISA yourself	Yes

The difference matters to anyone who already saves into an ISA. Instructing the provider to move the money is treated as a transfer, and HMRC’s rules disregard it for the overall subscription limit, which is £20,000 in the 2026 to 2027 tax year. Taking the cash out and paying it in later is a fresh subscription, and it counts. A Lifetime ISA is the exception: money moved in there is still subject to that account’s own £4,000 payment limit.

The part that can cost you money

If you claim Universal Credit, this money counts as capital from the day it reaches you.

Money, savings and investments you hold	Effect on Universal Credit
Under £6,000	None
£6,000 to £16,000	£4.35 a month less for each £250 above £6,000
£16,000 or more	You cannot claim

GOV.UK adds that another £4.35 comes off for any remaining amount that is not a complete £250. On its own, £2,310 sits well under the first threshold. Added to savings already held, it may not.

Neither point is a reason to leave the account alone. Both are reasons to know the number before it lands.

Where these figures come from

• Almost 3 million young adults are ‘quids in’ after claiming Child Trust Fund — HM Revenue and Customs
• Child Trust Funds: find a Child Trust Fund — GOV.UK
• Maturing Child Trust Funds — HM Revenue and Customs
• Universal Credit: What you'll get — GOV.UK
• Universal Credit: Eligibility — GOV.UK

Every figure traces to a dated document — the line this section is named after. If one here is wrong, tell us and it gets fixed publicly. Work out your own figures.