Over 6000 Twickenham Children Eligible for Child Trust Fund

5.41.19pm UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 21st Mar 2006

An estimated 6342 children in the Twickenham area are eligible for the Child Trust Fund according to Nationwide Building Society and around 12,000 in the borough as a whole.

However there is a very poor take up. A third, or perhaps more, of parents have so far ignored the opportunity to open a Child Trust Fund despite the government's offer of funding.

Vincent Cable said "I've been very critical of the Child Trust Fund idea - in my view not the best use of government funding - but since it exists I want to ensure that local parents and children take advantage of it. I our current environment of high levels of debt amongst young people, it is important that the children do get into the savings habit".