£123m Child Trust Fund cash unclaimed

YOUNG adults across Scotland are missing out on an estimated £123million in unclaimed Child Trust Funds - including 27,000 people from low-income backgrounds.

- BY DAN VEVERS Chief Reporter

Most people born between 2002 and 2011 have savings accrued through the CTF scheme which was launched by former chancellor and prime minister Gordon Brown in 2005.

It saw the Labour government stump up £500 over seven years for each kid, rising to £1000 for those from low-income families.

But tens of thousands of young people have missed out on the money due to being unaware the pot exists or not knowing where to find it, according to The Share Foundation charity.

Brooke Geffen, 19, an art student at college in Falkirk, told the Sunday Mail it took her a year to track down her CTF after the bank which originally handled the funds collapsed.

She said: "They put it in a different bank but I couldn't find out which one. I'd moved a lot as a child so I didn't have any documents.