Child Trust Fund FAQs

Child Trust Funds (CTFs) were set up by the government to help young people like you save towards their future. Once you turn 18-years-old, the fund matures and you can choose what to do with the money available.

Your CTF will mature on your 18th birthday.

There are three key options to choose from:

1. Stay invested by opening an investment account with EQi
2. Take the cash
3. A mix of 1 and 2, take some cash and leave some invested for the future

If you would prefer to transfer to a different investment provider, all you need to do is give the instruction to the new provider and they will be responsible for completing the transfer process.

To understand more about what these options offer, we have more information on the benefits of continued investing and managing your maturity to help you decide what option may be best for you.

If we don’t receive any instructions from you, once you turn 18 your CTF is automatically ‘matured’. This means the account remains in place (including Terms and Conditions), but you cannot access it until we receive instructions about what you want to do.

You can open any of our investments accounts and move your CTF investments and cash into the account(s) at maturity. The options include: Lifetime ISA (LISA), Individual-Savings-Account (ISA), dealing account or Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP).

To decide which account might be a good fit, it’s worth thinking about your long-term goals. Please review manage your maturity for more information on aligning your goals to an account that suits you. 

Both the LISA and ISA have an annual contribution limit, similar to your CTF, as they are all tax-free accounts.

LISA: The annual allowance is £4,000. It offers a government bonus of 25% on all contributions, up to £1,000 each year if you contribute the maximum annual allowance.

ISA: The annual allowance is £20,000, however the government is waiving this limit for any transfers from a CTF.

For examples of how to manage your CTF maturity within the allowance limits, please see manage your maturity.

EQi allows a parent, guardian or Independent Financial Advisor (IFA) to be a third party on your account to help you manage your investments. All you need to do is complete our Third Party Authorisation form. You can submit this at the same time you submit your CTF maturity instructions or at a later date.

Please complete our CTF Maturity Instruction form prior to your CTF maturing. This form will provide the following options:

1. Stay invested by opening an investment account with EQi
2. Take the cash
3. A mix of 1 and 2, take some cash and leave some invested for the future

Crucially, you will need to provide one set of instructions to cover all the investments and cash in the account. Please bear in the mind the following when you are making your decision:

• Remember investments can fall as well as rise, so the amount you receive may differ between now when you provide the instructions and your 18th birthday.
• If you choose to stay invested and open multiple accounts (such as an ISA and LISA), you will have to tell us which investments go into which account bearing in mind the LISA annual allowance of £4,000.
• If you choose to take cash, please bear in mind any investment(s) will need to be sold first. The cost to sell each investment will be taken from the account before you are paid. To review our dealing commission and any associated fees, please see our pricing.
• If you choose to transfer investments into a LISA these will also need to be sold first. We will then re-purchase the investments within the LISA for you. Please bear in mind as share prices fluctuate, you might get more, or less, when the investments are re-purchased.

As soon as you have made a decision, please send us your completed CTF Maturity Instruction Form at least three working days before your birthday.

You can still send your CTF Maturity Instruction form, however we may not be able to action your instructions until after your 18th birthday once the account has matured.

If you do not reside in UK, you can open an Individual Savings Account (ISA) or a Lifetime ISA (LISA) to transfer the balance of your CTF. In order to open an account you will need a UK bank account in your name, however you will not be able to make contributions to the account until you reside in the UK.

If you have provided instructions to us, we will action them on your 18th birthday.

If you have not provided instructions, your account will be matured automatically, which means it will remain in place until you contact with us a decision about what you want to do.

• If the CTF contains only cash: We will arrange to pay the money into your chosen bank account. Please allow up to seven working days after your 18th birthday  for the cash transfer to complete.
• If the CTF contains investments and / or cash: We will arrange to sell the investments first and then pay into your chosen bank account, which can take up to ten working days from your 18th birthday to complete. Please note you will also be charged our online dealing commission and any other applicable fees to sell the investments in your CTF, which will be taken from the account balance before you are paid. 

You will be issued a new account number and PIN if you choose to open an investment account with EQi. It will be different to the log in details your parent or guardian used for your CTF.

We will your issue your new account number and PIN to log in within five working days from the day you turn 18.

We will issue log in details and a PIN by post within five working days from when you turn 18. If you would like to access your account before your details arrive, simply call us on 0345 0700 720 between the hours of 08:00 to 17.30, Monday to Friday.

With a matured CTF the options are the same, you can decide to withdraw the money, stay invested, or both.

If you would like to take the cash: complete the CTF Maturity Instruction form. 

If you would like to stay invested: open an investment account with EQi online. Once your account is open, you can transfer your CTF holdings into your new account.  

If you would like to mix and match, leave some invested and take some cash: once you have opened an account and transferred your CTF holdings into this, you will be able to withdraw cash. 

In order for this to happen, we will arrange a direct debit when you open your account. Please note this can take up to 10 working days to set up from when you first open your account. 

As your child is the CTF account holder, we will need to take the CTF maturity instructions from them. To allow us to communicate with your child, please check we have their correct postal address on the account and provide us with their email details.

Please note, your child’s postal address may differ from your postal address on the account. To check their address, please log in to the account and visit ‘profile’.

To update any of their details, please send us a secure message from the account, or call us on 0345 0700 720.

Yes, you can still make contributions to the CTF, the maximum annual contribution is currently £9,000. As a reminder, the contribution year is based on your child's birthday. 

You can make contributions to the account by debit card, or by bank transfer. 

Please top up the CTF account with cash before maturity to clear the negative balance. To add money to the account, you can use a debit card or bank transfer.

Accounts are automatically locked as a security measure and may be due to inactivity. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused.

To unlock the account, simply call us on 0345 0700 720 and one of our team members at our Customer Experience Centre will be able to help unlock the account for you. Our lines are open 08:00 to 17:30, Monday to Friday.

The account will remain accessible until 14:30 on the day before your child’s 18th birthday.

When you child opens an investment account, their bank details will be added to the account to allow them to make transfers of money in and out. This means that bank transfers into your child’s EQi account, can only come from their own bank account.

A way to make a contribution to your child’s EQi account is to pay their bank account, then they can move the money into their investment account by bank transfer or debit card.

Unfortunately contributions into an ISA can only be made by your child as the account holder.