More people now using savings accounts for children

An increasing number of parents have not been put off putting away cash for their children by the abolition of the child trust fund (CTF), an expert has suggested.

The government decided to remove the CTF soon after coming to office following the general election last May, but this has not deterred many adults from using other  - such as  or  - to provide their youngsters with a strong financial platform for the future.

That is according to Simon Hartshorn, managing director at Family Investments, who has said that the CTF has played a role in altering the attitudes of many Britons, insofar as the scheme made more people realise the importance of storing money for the future.

"Arguably, there's never been more people saving [for their children's future] then there are now," he noted.

Nevertheless, the Family Investments official added that parents may run into monetary difficulties in the coming months due to the fact they may find themselves in limbo ahead of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat alliance's decision on what will replace CTFs.

"There has been talk of a junior Isa product which will be backdates to those children who were born after January. The challenge at the moment for parents is not really knowing where to put their money if they want to do something with it now," Mr Hartshorn said.

These comments came after the publication of research by My Voucher Codes last week (March 15th 2011), which found that some 64 per cent of parents under the age of ten have not set any money at all aside for them in a savings account.

More than half - 51 per cent - admitted this was because they could not afford to do so in the present economic climate.