Member

My second amendment in this group is Amendment 60. The amendment is to limit an unfolding sadness. Young people turning 18 who are eligible to access their own child trust funds or junior ISAs cannot do so if they lack the mental capacity, usually because of learning difficulties. The families and guardians of these youngsters, who typically manage significant sums of money on their behalf, are unable to access the funds to spend on the youngsters because of administrative and legal obstacles that take months to surmount and require paying a whole variety of court and administrative fees, often amounting to £1,000, even though the typical child trust fund for these youngsters has only £2,000 in it. Around 80,000 disabled young people are caught up in this awful snafu, and some £210 million is locked in the child trust funds.