A reader’s daughter has got so stressed trying to get her savings she’s about to give up. Can anything be done?
Do you have a financial anxiety, dilemma or quandary? Ask Jessie Hewitson, veteran money journalist and editor, and financial agony aunt for The i Paper. Email questions to money@inews.co.uk, with Ask Jessie in the subject line, and she will get to work.
Susie, a reader, asks:
My daughter is 19 and for the past year we have tried to access her Child Trust Fund but to no avail. She is ignored and has been asked over and over again for the same paperwork to prove who she is.
She has complied each time, only to be ignored again and sent a statement instead of her money. The fund is with Columbia Threadneedle.
Is there anything you can do to help us? I’m a single mother and my son is life-limited, so her money is very important to her as it’s difficult for me to help her financially.
Jessie responds:
Initially, I thought this was a straightforward case of delays. But as I dug in, it turned out to be something more revealing.
Your daughter’s money is in a Child Trust Fund – a type of saving accounts set up by the government for children born between 2002 and 2011, with an initial voucher of up to £500. The money can only be accessed when the child turns 18 and billions remain unclaimed. You believe there is around £850 in the account.
First, it must be said: your family has far too much to cope with without also having to chase this. Your son Alex, 23, has cystic fibrosis and a rare chromosomal disorder. The disorder caused a defective kidney, while the cystic fibrosis drugs eventually damaged it beyond repair.
He has had a transplant but very sadly will not recover. He is autistic and has the cognitive function of an 18-month-old and needs constant care at home or in hospital. You describe him as the happiest young man in the world, but his condition puts huge pressure on the family, and your daughter has taken on a caring role alongside her own life as a teenager.
With that context, I approached Columbia Threadneedle and asked them to resolve this urgently.
To their credit, they responded quickly and shared a detailed timeline. No doubt like millions of people, you moved home and your account had been marked “gone away” in 2017 after mail was returned undelivered, and no verified change of address was ever received.
That meant when your daughter turned 18 last year, she did not receive the usual maturity letters explaining how to access her money.
When she contacted the company in August 2024, an electronic ID check failed, so she was asked to send anti-money-laundering (AML) documents by post.
Columbia Threadneedle sent her three letters in August and September chasing these documents, which they received in November. Once they arrived, they were approved the next day, and she technically had full access to her account from that point.
The company says it then sent her letters, login details for online access and regular statements showing her options.
So why didn’t she get her money? When I spoke to your daughter, the real issue became clear. While Columbia Threadneedle were sending her information, your daughter found it all incomprehensible. She showed me the “CTF Maturity Election Form” she was sent. It asked whether she wanted to sell all or part of her shares, and to choose which funds to move the rest into. She didn’t even realise she held shares, and doesn’t know what funds are, let alone how to choose between them.
Her reaction summed it up: “All I wanted was to get my cash.”
Columbia Threadneedle say this was an older version of their paperwork and they now use a “Making a Decision Form” instead. The new form has more explanation, but it still asks 18-year-olds to make choices about what to do with their shares and whether to move them into products like an ISA or a Lifetime ISA – concepts many teenagers have never encountered.
This highlights a bigger issue across the financial services industry: the need for companies to speak plain English. The industry has a responsibility – especially under the FCA’s new Consumer Duty rules – to ensure communications are not only accurate but also understandable to their target customers.
Columbia Threadneedle points to recent changes – they have simplified their documentation requirements, launched a dedicated AML webpage with guidance for young adults, and are working with industry bodies such as The Wisdom Council to make communications clearer.
They have also introduced new tracing services to track down customers who have moved house, and say delays usually arise when identity checks fail or documents are incomplete.
And in your daughter’s case, they are now arranging for someone who can speak human – rather than financial jargon – to talk her through the next steps so she can finally access her money.
At the moment, the forms and processes often require a parent to help out to make sense of the paperwork. But some families, like yours, already have more than enough on their plate.
And not every adult has the energy, time or financial knowledge to navigate these forms either. If a process is too difficult for an 18-year-old to manage independently, that in itself is a sign the communication isn’t working.
Your family’s story shows that for many young people, the real barrier isn’t just the paperwork. It’s the way the financial world speaks to them – in jargon, acronyms and forms that feel designed to confuse. With £1.4bn in Child Trust Funds still unclaimed, it’s clear your daughter is far from alone. Until providers start speaking in plain English, too many 18-year-olds will remain locked out of money that is rightfully theirs.