Dad hails 'breakthrough' Child Trust Fund change
BBCA promised law change making it easier for young disabled people's families to access their savings in Child Trust Funds is a "breakthrough moment", one father says.
The families of some people with learning disabilities have had to go through long court procedures to access their savings at 18 because, in the official legal terminology, their children "lack mental capacity".
Andrew Turner, from Horsham in West Sussex, who has campaigned for change for six years after having issues accessing his son Mikey's money when he turned 18, said: "I think it's a victory for common sense.
"It's going to be fantastic news for thousands of disabled young people."
The government has now announced it will change the law so that parents and carers will soon go be able to go directly to trust fund providers instead.
Turner said: "It has been a long journey and I'm disappointed it has taken six years, but this is a breakthrough moment for us and I'm really pleased about it."
The father says the change will allow families to "build a stronger financial foundation for their future".
The trust funds were issued to every child born between 1 September 2002 and 2 January 2011.
Jake Richards, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Ministry of Justice, said: "This is simply an injustice that we're finally putting right and as campaigners have argued for years, change is long overdue.
"This legislation will ensure this group of young adults no longer face difficulty from accessing money that is rightfully theirs."
John Milne, the Liberal Democrat MP for Horsham, who has campaigned on the issue, said he had been assured that the law change would be "very quick" and the process to access funds would be "very easy and will cost little or nothing".
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