HISTORIC PRESS RELEASE : Chancellor and Minister for Children launch Child Trust Fund [January 2005]

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 10 January 2005.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown and Minister for Children Margaret Hodge today officially launched the Child Trust Fund (CTF), announcing the list of 75 official providers and distributors for the CTF.

With the first information packs and vouchers being sent out in the coming days and a major advertising campaign beginning on the 17 January, the Chancellor and Minister for Children addressed representatives of the participating firms this afternoon.

The Chancellor, Gordon Brown, said:

“Our aim is a Britain of ambition and aspiration where not just some but all children have the best possible start in life. The Child Trust Fund is designed to ensure that every child in our country has assets and wealth and that no child is left out and all children in Britain have a stake in the wealth of the nation.

2 million vouchers will start to be issued in the next few days to parents on behalf of all children born after September 1st 2002. So at age 18 every child, no matter what their background, will have some wealth from which to plan their future.

Today’s list of 75 providers and distributors provides a powerful symbol that a wide range of firms, from small friendly societies to some of the largest institutions in the country, share this Government’s vision for a strengthened savings culture.”

Minister for Children, Margaret Hodge, said:

“The Child Trust Fund is not only about giving all children an asset to use when they are 18 and encouraging saving – it is also about improving financial awareness.  The Child Trust Fund offers the real advantage of bringing financial education to life and any discussion of the value of saving will be real rather than theoretical.”

The Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Stephen Timms, said:

“I am delighted with the response from financial providers and distributors to the Child Trust Fund. The list published today shows that there are institutions from across the financial services industry who collectively serve millions of customers every day, ready to accept Child Trust Fund vouchers from next week.”

The involvement of such a wide range of providers and distributors makes it easy for parents to get information about CTF accounts available and to open one for their child.”