Government Trust Savings accounts

[rosie7007]

Hi to all,

As I am a member of several forums I can't be sure if it is Mencap who highlighted a matter previously or not.

The Government Trust accounts for children born between 2001 to 2011, to encourage saving and where additional monies could be deposited for a young person. I read that there were attempts being made regarding the monies held in these account and that they should not be included in any capital the person has to disclose when applying for benefits. I believe there is some action being taken along these lines but as yet no conclusion has been made.

If anyone has any information in this regard it would be appreciated. If not I think I may have dreamt it lol

Thank you Cindy

[Sarah_Mencap]

Hello

Thanks for posting. I have had a look at some of our older posts about this and I wondered if this was the one you were thinking about -

healthunlocked.com/mencap/p...

I am not sure that it if this quite answers your question, but I think that the Wills and Trusts team will be the right people to talk to about this. Sadly, Laila has left Mencap now, but I am sure someone else from our Wills and Trust team will be happy to have a chat.

Contact them on [e-mail] or leave a message on 0207 696 6925.

I hope this helps a little.

Best wishes

Sarah

[rosie7007 in reply to Sarah_Mencap]

Hi Sarah_Mencap

Thank you for looking into past posts, the post you refer to may have been read by me but there is no mention of being able to not have to disclose any sums in these accounts when claiming for benefits. I'm unsure where I got this little nugget of information from but looking at the link to Laila'a information, I may have misunderstood, I can't be sure now.

Obviously my initial interpretation may still be valid for the future but appears it isn't valid for the present.

I apologise if I have misled anyone, if future decisions about Government Trust accounts can be screamed from the rooftops, we will all have the opportunity of being notified together.

Thank you Sarah for your time.

[Bluey203]

Thank you Rosie for highlighting this, and thank you Sarah for adding the link in your reply which gives more information and also includes another link where you can sign the petition on change. org - Child Trust Funds - help disabled children access their money.

We need as many as possible to sign to make a change, it discriminates against the severely learning disabled. It's wrong that these savings are counted as capital which then effects what benefits they will receive.

I too have an 18 year old autistic son with SLD who lacks capacity, so cannot access any savings, unless I apply to be his Deputy, which I will need to do soon. It should suffice being his appointee, but this seems to count for nothing.

Day to day is already stressful without more red tape to complicate things.