The UK Child Trust Fund: A successful launch

The Child Trust Fund is the world's first universal children's savings policy and many countries are keen to follow the UK's lead. This paper, co-authored with the US thinktank the Aspen Institute, sets out some of the early findings from the UK's experience of CTFs and highlights the key challenges for other countries interested in implementing a similar scheme.

Using official data from the first two-and-a-half years of the Child Trust Fund, together with academic research, industry data and original research, we are able to draw some initial conclusion about the early achievements of the CTF. Parents are generally positive about the policy and a nearly a third of account opened by parents have received extra contributions. Our research also indicates some areas for further development, including the need to increase involvement among some parents and expand the number of CTFs receiving regular contributions from family and friends.