Missed Child Trust Fund Payments refunded

Aug 26 2010 by Debbie Hall, West Lothian Courier

CHILDREN in care who have missed out on cash due to a council mistake are to be reimbursed.

Finance chiefs discovered that some youngsters in the council’s care were not receiving extra payment they were due. Following a review, it was discovered that some children with a Child Trust Fund (CTF) who were due top-ups had been missed.

The CTF is a savings and investment account for children born on or after September 1, 2002. The account belongs to the child and can't be touched until they turn 18.

The Government announced earlier this year that it intended to reduce and then eventually stop the payments to CTF accounts.

Councils had been instructed last February that a payment of an additional £100 should be made to all children with a CTF who had been looked after away from home continuously for a year or more after April 1, 2007.

The number of children identified as being entitled to annual payments are 29 for 2008/09, 36 for 2009/10 and 29 for 2010/11.

As a consequence of the delay, some children are entitled to more than one year’s payments, 15 children are entitled to three years’ cash and 16 children are entitled to two years’ cash.

A spokesman for West Lothian Council said: “We are sorry for this oversight and as soon as it was brought to our attention we carried out an immediate review to identify the children involved.

“Interest will be added to the sums due so that none of the children is disadvantaged.”

Executive councillor for Social Policy Isabel Hutton added: “I’m very pleased that, when it was brought to light that the payments had been overlooked, immediate action was taken to rectify the situation was taken.”