Your child's Child Trust Fund (CTF) guide
Click on the question to reveal the answer.
If there are any questions you can't find the answer to here, feel free to contact us
What type of CTF account does my child have?
How are my child's savings invested?
Why invest in shares?
What is done to protect my child's investment?
Who manages my child's investment?
How is the value of my child's account calculated?
What might my child's account be worth in the future?
How will I know how much money is in the account?
Who can top-up my child's account?
How can I add to my child's account?
How much can I add to my child's account?
How much should I pay in?
How do I tell you about changes to my details?
What type of CTF account does my child have?
Your child's CTF is a Stakeholder account, which means it meets strict Government criteria, some of which are designed to reduce the risk associated with investing in the stock market.
Please remember that investments in stocks and shares may fall as well as rise so your child could get back less than paid in.
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How are my child's savings invested?
The Family Investments CTF invests in stocks and shares. This is done to try and achieve long term capital growth while trying to protect your child's investment by spreading risk across a range of assets. The fund invests in UK and overseas shares and closely follows the performance of a number of stock market indices in the UK, Far East, North America and Europe.
Our ethical Child Trust Fund aims to achieve long term capital growth by closely following the performance of companies included in the FTSE4Good UK 50 Total Return Index*. To be included in this index, companies must meet globally recognised corporate responsibility standards. These include:
- Making a positive contribution towards environmental sustainability
- Upholding and supporting human rights
- Ensuring good supply chain labour standards
The FTSE4Good UK 50 Total Return Index also avoids any investment in companies involved in tobacco production, nuclear weapons and whole weapon systems.
You can find out more about FTSE4Good by visiting their website
Please remember that investments in stocks and shares may fall as well as rise so your child could get back less than paid in.
* "FTSE ®" is a trade mark jointly owned by the London Stock Exchange Plc and the Financial Times Limited and is used under license by FTSE. FTSE does not sponsor, endorse or promote this product.
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Why invest in shares?
We believe that, in the long term, investments in shares will usually produce a better rate of return than a protected interest bearing cash deposit account. However, investments in shares can go down as well as up and carry more risk than a cash deposit account. This is why one of the government rules for stakeholder CTFs require account providers to move the money in the later stages of the account, gradually into lower risk investments. This may include cash or fixed interest securities (see below for more details). Meeting the stakeholder rules does not mean performance is guaranteed nor that a stakeholder account is suitable for all.
Please remember that investments in stocks and shares may fall as well as rise so your child could get back less than paid in.
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What is done to protect my child's investment?
On or before your child's 13th birthday we start to move the investment into more secure holdings such as fixed interest and cash. This is a process which continues until the child's 18th birthday, and so during this period an ever larger proportion of your child's investment will be in these more secure holdings. This strategy is adopted to help protect your child's savings over the latter part of the investment period (although there can be no guarantee).
Please remember that investments in stocks and shares may fall as well as rise so your child could get back less than paid in.
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Who manages my child's investment?
The Investment Advisor for our funds is Santander Asset Management UK Limited.
Santander Asset Management UK Limited is a division of Santander. They have a presence in 14 countries and manage funds in excess of £100 billion around the world with a team of more than 1,100 professionals.
As the Investment Advisor, they are responsible for making the day-to-day decisions to buy, hold or sell the fund's assets (e.g. shares and fixed interest investments), subject to our direction and in line with the fund's investment objectives.
You can find out more about Santander by visiting their website at www.santanderam.co.uk
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How is the value of my child's account calculated?
- Money added to a Family Investments Child Trust Fund Account goes into a unit trust called the Family Investments Child Trust Fund
- If you have chosen our Ethical option, money will instead go into a unit trust called the Family Charities Ethical Trust
- These contributions are pooled together with money from other investors and invested across a range of assets
- Each contribution into the account will purchase "units", which represent a share of the assets held by the trust
- The number of units in your child's account is shown on their CTF statement
- The value of each unit is based on the value of the assets held by the trust divided by the total number of units in issue
The value of your child's CTF account is calculated by multiplying the number of units by the value of each unit. Please note that the values can fall as well as rise. You can see today's unit price on the right hand side of this page.
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What might my child's account be worth in the future?
Every account is different, and the amount it will be worth will be dependent mainly upon how well the underlying investments perform together with how much you pay in.
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How will I know how much money is in the account?
Each year we will send your child a statement, 'care of' the Registered Contact on the account, approximately 6 weeks before their birthday. After your child is 16, we will send their statements directly to them. Alternatively, you can phone our Customer Services team on 0844 8 920 920 for a current valuation. Calls cost 7p plus 3p per minute from a BT landline (correct at 20/10/08). The cost of non-BT landline calls may differ. (calls may be recorded and monitored for training purposes).
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Who can top-up my child's account?
As long as they have access to your child's CTF account number and their date of birth, anyone can top-up your child's account at any time. For more information about topping-up, click here.
Any money placed into the account is a gift to the child. Only your child will be able to access it, and only when they turn 18.
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How can I add to my child's account?
Payments can be made regularly, or as a one-off - for example, as gifts for birthdays or other significant events. What's more, you can start or stop these payments at any time - there's no commitment. It's quick and easy to make both regular and one-off payments. But remember, the money in the account will remain there. Only the child will be able to access it, and only at age 18.
For more information on the ways to top-up, please click here.
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How much can I add to my child's account?
You, your family and friends can make additional contributions into your child's account, as often as you like, up to a combined maximum of £1,200 each year. This amount is set by the Government and does not include the Government payments.
The account year ends on the day before your child's birthday, so when you receive the statement it is the perfect time to consider whether you've used up all of your allowance for that year.
Any money placed into the account is a gift to the child. Only your child will be able to access it, and only when they turn 18.
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How much should I pay in?
There are a lot of expenses your child may face when they reach adult life. These include finding the money for a first car, a deposit on a home, funding further education, or perhaps financing a trip around the world.
Obviously, the more you save, the bigger the potential reward could be:
- An extra £10 per month might help towards travels around the globe
- An extra £20 per month might help finance your child's first car
- An extra £50 per month might help towards your child's further education or first home
If you have a particular savings goal, you can enter this amount into our savings calculator to get an indication of how much you may have to save.
Please remember that investments in stocks and shares may fall as well as rise so your child could get back less than paid in.
money placed into the account is a gift to the child. Only your child will be able to access it, and only when they turn 18.
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How do I tell you about changes to my details?
If your address has changed:
Please write to us at the address below quoting your name, old address, new address, new telephone number and CTF account number. Please sign and date the letter. For security reasons, we cannot accept notification of an address change via email.
If your name, or the child's name, has changed:
Please write to us at the address below specifying the new name, previous name, address and CTF account number. Please sign and date the letter with your new and old signatures and include an original or certified copy of the relevant document(s).
Please note: if you are sending copies, the certifier (not a relative) must write the following on each certified document, 'I confirm that this is a true copy of the original document', and then sign, date and print their name, address and telephone number.
Please send any documents to:
Family Investments
FREEPOST BR2206
Brighton
BN1 2BR
For security reasons, we cannot accept notification of a name change via email.
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