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.