Aug 26 2008
Many parents and grandparents are not taking full advantage of the tax breaks on offer for Child Trust Funds (CTF), an organisation has said.
Under a quarter (24 per cent) of CTF accounts opened since 2005 have received additional deposits from people saving for children, according to non-profit organisation Unbiased. If maximum funding went into half of the remaining accounts, the additional tax saving would total £242 million.
Overall, three quarters (75 per cent) of children eligible for a CTF account have them, suggesting more money is being wasted.
David Elms, chief executive of the organisation, said parents are not capitalising on the government scheme, which does not demand tax to be paid on interest.
"By not using their full funding allowance each year they may potentially be gifting the taxman more money than necessary," he said.
In other news, Marks and Spencer has found over a fifth of mothers use "clockwork" precision to run their homes.
