The Share Foundation

There are currently two ways that we achieve our goal:

1. for young people in care, we work with the Department for Education to operate the Government's starter capital accounts for young people in care, the Child Trust Fund and the Junior ISA, throughout the United Kingdom; and

2. for young people generally who were born in the UK between 1/9/2002 and 2/1/2011, we run programmes designed to help them claim their Child Trust Fund accounts from age 16

Between 2005 and 2010 we made additional contributions to Child Trust Funds for young people in care: since 2012 we've been appointed by the Department for Education to establish Junior ISAs for all children and young people who've been in care continuously for over one year, and who do not have a Child Trust Fund.

There's an initial £200 from the Government to open each account, and one of our tasks is to raise additional money to build that account into a worthwhile starter for adult life, and to provide life skills. Our Stepladder course provides these, including guidance on handling money. It's a vital role in which we also work closely with local authorities, carers and schools and wherever possible we provide it on an incentivised learning basis, as 'Stepladder Plus'.