Dad hails 'breakthrough' Child Trust Fund change

Dad hails 'breakthrough' Child Trust Fund change

Andrew and Jenny Turner had trouble getting access to money in their son Mikey's Child Trust Fund.

A planned change in the law that will make it easier for families of young disabled people to access their savings in Child Trust Funds is a "breakthrough moment", according to one father.

Some families of people with learning disabilities have had to go through lengthy court processes to access their savings at 18 because, in the official legal wording, their children "lack mental capacity".

Andrew Turner, from Horsham in West Sussex, who has campaigned for change for six years after encountering problems accessing his son Mikey's money when he turned 18, said: "I think it's a victory for common sense.

"It's going to be fantastic news for thousands of disabled young people."

The government has now said it will change the law so that parents and carers will soon be able to go directly to trust fund providers instead.

Turner said: "It has been a long journey and I'm disappointed it has taken six years, but this is a breakthrough moment for us and I'm really pleased about it."

The father says the change will enable families to "build a stronger financial foundation for their future".

The trust funds were given to every child born between 1 September 2002 and 2 January 2011.

Jake Richards, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Ministry of Justice, said: "This is simply an injustice that we're finally putting right and as campaigners have argued for years, change is long overdue.

"This legislation will ensure this group of young adults no longer face difficulty from accessing money that is rightfully theirs."

John Milne, the Liberal Democrat MP for Horsham, who has campaigned on the issue, said he had been assured that the law change would be "very quick" and the process to access funds would be "very easy and will cost little or nothing".