Brown: Child Trust Funds mean no-one left behind
Child Trust Funds will ensure that “no child is left out” and ensure all children have the best possible start in life, Chancellor Gordon Brown said today.
Launching the new investment vehicles for children, which will be kick-started with a £250 or £500 donation by the Government and accessible once the child reaches 18, he said they would also broaden Britain’s savings culture.
Mr Brown said: “Our aim is a Britain of ambition and aspiration where not just some but all children have the best possible start in life.
“The Child Trust Fund will ensure that every child in our country will have savings and assets, and ensure that no child is left out and all children in Britain have a stake in the wealth of the nation.”
He noted that only one child in five currently had any form of savings, and the Child Trust Fund would be “a significant step” in broadening savings and creating a savings culture.
Mr Brown said he hoped that the funds would contribute to financial education, and noted that when children were discussing savings at school, every pupil in the classroom would have one of the funds, ensuring the discussion started on an equal footing.
Vouchers entitling parents to start up one of the trust funds would be sent out in the next few days, and the funds would open in April. The Government’s information campaign will start on 17 January.
Mr Brown gave journalists a preview of the television advert, which features a small child being substituted on to a youth football match before accidentally scoring the winning goal. It closes with the tagline ‘what will yours grow into?’
He said the Government would consider expanding the scheme to cover children born before 2002.
Asked whether the range of options and the language in which the funds were presented were not in fact confusing for parents, he said it was important to allow parents control over how the funds were invested.
Some financial education of parents would be needed, he admitted, but that was an essential part of the process that he hoped would be sparked by the creation of the funds.
But, even whilst launching a flahship policy, the Chancellor was again forced to comment on his relationship with Tony Blair.
When pressed about whether he trusted the Prime Minister, Mr Brown said: “Of course I trust the Prime Minister. And it’s precisely because I want people to see the business of government going forward that I won’t comment [on the reports of a feud between the two].”
The two men were working closely together and had a unified vision, he added.
The Chancellor also denied suggestions that trust in Labour was falling, saying the past seven years had represented a “restoration” of trust in government as Labour delivered on its promises and proved itself able to manage the economy.
It was wrong to say that Child Trust Funds were an election year bribe, he added, as they had taken “years of work” and had been discussed by Labour even before the 2001 general election.
