Recommendation 22

HMRC has not kept its records on Child Trust Funds up to date, affecting the quality of its tracing tool. This means young people trying to trace their accounts through the Government Gateway are receiving data from HMRC that have not been updated since their account was originally opened, typically around 18 years ago. It is likely that the provider for many of these accounts will have changed, as the NAO found the number of Child Trust Fund providers has reduced from 74 in April 2011 to 55 in February 2023, due to providers merging or exiting from the market. HMRC acknowledged that some people need further assistance to interpret the responses they get from HMRC about their Child Trust Funds.33 It has no way of knowing how many queries to the service resulted in someone successfully finding their Child Trust Fund. Young people using the Government Gateway need to verify their identity, which The Share Foundation told us many find challenging.34 Evaluation and learning from the scheme