Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department is taking steps to help improve access to (a) Child Trust Funds (b) Junior ISAs for the guardians of young people without capacity to make financial decisions.

In 2021, the Court of Protection begun a programme of work to digitise and streamline the property and affairs application process, this includes an online application process and changes to the application forms. A pilot of these improvements showed that application waiting times reduced from 24 weeks to 8 weeks. These improvements were rolled out for all court users in February 2023. The forms are still under review and steps are being taken to simplify these as much as possible.

In December 2020 we announced that Court of Protection application fees can be waived for Child Trust Funds in the majority of cases.

We are also collaborating with ODGs and stakeholders in both the disability and finance sectors to raise awareness of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and ensure that materials are available to support parents and guardians to navigate the legislation.