• Published

Kae Tapscott had no idea he had £4,000 waiting for him until his social worker mentioned it just before he turned 18.

Kae, from Tredegar in Blaenau Gwent, had never even heard of the Child Trust Fund (CTF) - and he's not the only one.

They were set up for every child born in the UK between 1 September 2002 and 2 January 2011 with government money, but more than three quarters of a million accessible accounts are unclaimed.

The amount of money in each account will vary, but on average it's more than £2,000.

Kae, who wants to be an actor and is studying performing arts at Coleg Gwent, is urging other young people to check what they may be owed.

"Don't just leave it and do nothing because you might not receive anything if you don't look," he said.

Kae said he had invested his money in an ISA to save for a house in future.

But at first he struggled to find out the details of his CTF because they can be held by a variety of different providers, and in the end used the Share Foundation's free CTF finder.

"I thought i'd get it automatically but I didn't hear anything," he said.

"I thought the government would give it to me but I actually had to get it by myself."

An estimated £83m is lying unclaimed in Wales alone according to The Share Foundation, a charity that runs accounts for young people in care on behalf of the UK government.

Most CTFs were set up by the child's parents with a voucher worth £250, or £500 in the case of low-income families, from the UK government.

An additional government payment was made when the child reached the age of seven and family members could also top them up.

In some cases the Welsh government also made a small payment to the funds of Welsh children.

Where parents or guardians didn't set them up, the CTFs were created by the UK government on the child's behalf.

Can I claim the Child Trust Fund?

• About 6.3 million CTFs were created for children born in the UK between 1 September 2002 and 2 January 2011
• More than 750,000 matured accounts remain unclaimed, with an average value of about £2,200
• The amount of money in each CTF will vary
• A young person can take control of their account when they reach 16, but they cannot access the money until they are 18
• Never pay anyone money to help you find your CTF
• You can conduct a free search for your CTF via gov.uk, external or The Share Foundation, external

Gavin Oldham, chair of the Share Foundation, said the main reason for accounts going unclaimed is that some young people have simply never been told about it.

He said the purpose was to give a young person "some resources for when they became an adult so that it would actually give them a good start".

Oldham wants to see the UK government implement an automatic release scheme for young people whose CTFs were created by the government because they are the group most likely to be unaware of their existence.

"If they haven't found it by the time they're 21, the money should be released through payroll, benefits or student loan routes," he said.

The UK government said savings belonged to account holders and were held by private sector providers.

"The government does not have the authority to access or transfer these funds," it said.

"The government is committed to reuniting young people with their CTFs.

"HMRC works with providers, industry representatives and others to raise awareness and help individuals trace their accounts, including through targeted communications and a free GOV.UK tracing service."