Parents in Lewisham East are being urged to use their Child Trust Fund vouchers to ensure their children have savings behind them when they reach 18.  

 Bridget Prentice, Labour MP for Lewisham East, was speaking during the first-ever Child Trust Fund Week, which runs from January 15th to 20th.  She is calling on parents in Lewisham to use their £250 vouchers to open an account and ask friends and family to get engaged with their child’s account to build a nest egg for the child’s future.

New figures published this month show that in the Lewisham East constituency, 4,688 Child Trust Fund vouchers have been issued to parents. 3,314 savings accounts have already been opened by parents themselves. The remaining 1,374 are still to be opened or will be automatically opened by HM Revenue & Customs if the vouchers are not used after 12 months so that no child loses out.

Bridget Prentice said: “The Child Trust Fund is a great way of saving for a child’s future. All parents with children born since September 2002 will have received a £250 voucher to get an account started. The Government will add an extra £250 for families on lower incomes, and there will be further top-ups when children reach the age of 7. “I’m pleased that 3,314 parents in my constituency have already opened an account for their child, but I want to encourage all eligible parents to open an account and get friends, family, grandparents and the whole family involved."