Every child and young person in the United Kingdom who has been care experienced (including at home) continuously for at least one year has a Junior ISA account opened for them through the Share Foundation with an initial payment of £200 being paid in to the account.
In addition, a Child Trust Fund Account (CTF) was set up for almost every young person born in the UK between 1 September 2002 and 2nd January 2011. The accounts were set up within one year of birth, and the Government contributions were more substantial that for the Junior ISA scheme described above. Again, the Share Foundation is responsible for the management of these.
Social Work provide the Share Foundation with a regularly updated list of all children and young people who are care experienced for one year or more and so are eligible for a JISA. The Share Foundation then opens up an account.
At age 16, a young person can then take responsibility for their own account. The money cannot be withdrawn until they reach 18 but they can take control of the account at 16 years.
At age 18, the young person becomes entitled to access the account and can choose to continue to keep the money in the savings account or to withdraw some or all of the balance.
The amount of money in each account will vary due to a variety of factors such as fluctuating interest rates, if any voluntary contributions have been made and whether it includes CTF as well as JISA.
If you think you have a JISA or a CTF that may have money in account for you, you can ask a worker to support you to check and access this, or you can do this yourself online by accessing the Share Foundation website www.sharefound.org or the direct links below:
If you were born between 3/1/1994 and 31/8/2002, the account will be an ISA and you should access https://MyJISA.sharefound.org to complete an online form to access the funds.
If you are 18 years or more and were born after 1/9/2002, the account will be a CTF and you should access https://MyCTF.sharefound.org to complete an online form to access the funds.