A year after the Government launched its Child Trust Fund vouchers and almost one million vouchers have yet to be invested by parents on behalf of their children.

Nationwide Building Society is trying to encourage parents to invest their child’s voucher sooner rather than later in order to gain as much benefit from the investment as possible. The Society recently issued a report on children’s savings which calls on the Government to do more to ensure vouchers are invested within the first three months of receipt.

The amount children could receive from a cash Child Trust Fund will vary significantly from around £1,000 for those who have just the money provided by the Government, to around £9,000 for those whose parents add £5 to the Child Trust Fund each week and almost £40,000 for those parents who top up the account by the full £1,200 each year. Children holding an equity Child Trust Fund account could receive an even higher return.