An industry-devised workaround to allow the parents of disabled children access to otherwise-locked Child Trust Fund and Junior Isa savings without having to go to court could be given legal backing under proposals put forward by peers.
Former Tory cabinet minister Lord Young and Labour s Lord Blunkett have proposed an amendment to the Financial Services Bill which would enable child savings of up to £5,000 to be paid out to parents or guardians provided they can fill in a five-page form and get approval from a medical practitioner.
The amendment, which will be debated on Monday, comes as peers across all parties have grown increasingly frustrated with the Government s seeming inaction on a problem which has already affected 8,000 disabled 18-year-olds since September 2020 and could affect as many as 160,000, according to savings industry estimates.
Tammie Squire has been allowed to manage her disabled youngest daughter s benefits for 18 years, but still faces a trip to court to try and unlock more than £7,000 she has saved for her future.
The mother-of-two, from Tettenhall Wood, Wolverhampton, saved thousands of pounds into a Child Trust Fund, and later a Junior Isa, with Nationwide Building Society for her daughter Hollie, who turns 18 this October.
Hollie, who her mother says has an endless list of disabilities including ataxia and epilepsy due to a rare gene mutation, does not have the mental capacity to manage her own money when she turns 18.