Adults Lacking Mental Capacity: Child Trust Funds

Baroness Pinnock Excerpts

Wednesday 28th October 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Lemos (Lab)]

I agree with my noble friend. Of course we do not think that all parents are a danger to their children; that would be ridiculous. As I have said, Minister Richards is looking for a solution in the coming weeks. However, as I am sure my noble friend would agree, not every adult has loving parents and the principles that underlie the Mental Capacity Act about adults—we are talking about adults—being entitled to agency over their own funds is an important one.

[Baroness Pinnock (LD)]

My Lords, at least three-quarters of a million funds have been unclaimed so far, and they are attracting “kindly tracer agents”—though scammers might be a more apposite description. What do the Government intend to do to enable those 750,000 young people to get access to those funds?

[Lord Lemos (Lab)]

The noble Baroness makes two points. I very much agree with the first one. It is deeply shocking, not just with this group of people but others, that scammers target people who lack mental capacity or have intellectual or learning disabilities. It is deeply immoral and disgraceful. On the question of accessing these funds, as I said to the noble Lord, Lord Young, we are working actively towards a solution to this problem and Minister Richards hopes to announce something in the coming weeks.