Parents confused by Child Trust Funds

A lack of understanding means many parents are failing to benefit from the government's Child Trust Funds.

10:41 02 September 2005

A lack of understanding means many parents are failing to benefit from the government's Child Trust Funds (CFI), according to new research.

A study by Family Investments (FI), the market leader in CFTs, estimates that 288 million in potential savings has been lost, with half of parents failing to invest or choosing poor schemes.

FI found poor understanding among parents and has called for a simplification of the scheme.

Too much choice was blamed for some parent's failure to invest. Of those parents yet to set up an account, 36 per cent said the range of CTFs was too broad and the system too complex.

Government advertising has raised awareness of the scheme, but now needs to make people "understand their options," said FI chief executive, John Reeve.

The government do enclose investment information with all CTF vouchers, but this was accused of inadequacy. The information was poor, dreadful or missing, according to 24 per cent of parents.

The government had previously identified a poor response to CFTs by Muslim parents. Many of the schemes available were barred under Sharia law. A Sharia-complaint CFT was launched yesterday in response.