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Gavin Oldham

Thought for the Week: The real merit of individual ownership is responsibility

Gavin Oldham
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Thought for the Week

Thought for the Week: The real merit of individual ownership is responsibility
Dame Julia Hoggett is Chief Executive of the London Stock Exchange, and featured in a half-page interview in The Sunday Times Business last weekend. She is a strong advocate for encouraging personal share ownership, which demonstrates clearly how a sense of responsibility builds from individual ownership: this is also particularly evident in employee share ownership. The correlation between ownership and responsibility at an individual level throughout society needs to be more fully understood and supported by business and politicians. Background music: 'Waiting' by Andrew Langdon

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Gavin Oldham

Thought for the Week: Tackling Child Poverty with Inter-generational Rebalancing

Gavin Oldham
Original Broadcast:

Thought for the Week

Thought for the Week: Tackling Child Poverty with Inter-generational Rebalancing
Gordon Brown and Ruth Kelly set out a comprehensive plan to tackle child poverty with the Child Trust Fund. We've learnt a huge amount from putting it into practice over the past two decades, and we're now ready for a more focused 'Mark 2' which will embody all of the lessons learnt. But will our new Labour Government have the strategic determination to follow their example? Or will it fall to today's philanthropists, walking in the footsteps of people like Andrew Carnegie, to take up the baton? The encouragement to make significant charitable endowments remains intact in inheritance taxation arrangements, and can support 75% of the commitment necessary to deliver a new scheme. Background music: 'Generations Away' by Unicorn Heads Image source: Telegraph Newspapers

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Gavin Oldham

Thought for the Week: “I’m 22 years old — where’s my CTF?”

Gavin Oldham
Original Broadcast:

Thought for the Week

Thought for the Week: “I’m 22 years old — where’s my CTF?”
The oldest recipient of a Child Trust Fund turned 22 on Sunday 1st September, but the great majority of those allocated by HMRC (due to no action by the young person's parents by their 1st birthday) are unclaimed. This is the story of Joe, who really needs his money to get started in adult life — but he doesn't know anything about his good fortune. The Share Foundation has already enabled over 60,000 young people to claim their accounts, but that's a drop in the ocean compared to the huge number of accounts lying dormant with account providers. So The Share Foundation is now asking Government to implement its 'Default Withdrawal at 21' proposal for HMRC-allocated accounts. Background music: 'Missing Persons' by Jeremy Blake

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Gavin Oldham

Thought for the Week: Action required for Default CTF Pay-out

Gavin Oldham
Original Broadcast:

Thought for the Week

Thought for the Week: Action required for Default CTF Pay-out
The core of the problem with unclaimed, adult-owned Child Trust Funds (of which there are over £2 billion waiting to be claimed) is with accounts opened by HMRC. That's why The Share Foundation has proposed a 'default withdrawal at 21' process, based on the young person's National Insurance number. Danny Kruger MP took part in the CTF conference in Westminster on Tuesday 5th March, and two weeks later in a Westminster Hall CTF debate, and supported this initiative which could release £1/4 billion each year to help these young and predominantly low-income young adults. Background music: 'Waiting' by Andrew Langdon

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Gavin Oldham

Thought for the Week: Putting Dormant Assets to Work

Gavin Oldham
Original Broadcast:

Thought for the Week

Thought for the Week: Putting Dormant Assets to Work
Just in the United Kingdom alone, it has been estimated that there is £200 billion lying unclaimed as dormant assets. Better analysis is needed, more use should be made of search facilities by families — but the money needs to be put to work, prioritising inter-generational rebalancing. The Dormant Assets Act 2022 is a major step forward by Government, and the Reclaim Fund will enable its provisions to be put into practice. This will become an increasingly important contribution to empowering disadvantaged young people as the birth rate falls. Background music: 'Sea of Ancestry' by Jesse Gallagher.

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Gavin Oldham

Thought for the Week: The £2 Billion Challenge

Gavin Oldham
Original Broadcast:

Thought for the Week

Thought for the Week: The £2 Billion Challenge
The UK sub-postmasters' scandal is not just an issue for politicians: it deeply questions the quality and integrity of corporate governance, auditors and the legal profession: for example, surely The Law Society should have monitored the quantum of convictions and cried 'wolf'? The huge quantum of unclaimed adult-owned Child Trust Funds is a similar massive injustice for young people from disadvantaged and low-income backgrounds. Politicians, account providers and regulators need to take urgent action to tackle the £2 billion challenge: however, The Share Foundation is crying 'wolf' in this case — but will people listen? Background music: 'Missing Persons' by Jeremy Blake

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Gavin Oldham

Thought for the Week: More Focus on Young People, please!

Gavin Oldham
Original Broadcast:

Thought for the Week

Thought for the Week: More Focus on Young People, please!
On 22nd May, following a Public Accounts Committee hearing in Westminster, our commentary was entitled 'Don’t waste the Child Trust Fund harvest!' It's now over three months since the oldest recipient of these accounts turned 21: with the percentage of unclaimed adult-owned accounts still over 40%, it's time to take action. So please register to join us on Tuesday 5th March at Church House, Westminster, for a major half-day event sponsored by NatWest and The Tracing Group calling for priority action to reach over one million young adults whose accounts, worth over £2 billion in total, are lying dormant because their young adult owners don't know anything about them. Background music: 'Everything Has a Beginning' by Joel Cummins. Register for 5/3/24 at www.sharefound.org/CTFconference

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Gavin Oldham

Thought for the Week: 21st Century Elephant Traps

Gavin Oldham
Original Broadcast:

Thought for the Week

Thought for the Week: 21st Century Elephant Traps
In the old days we either telephoned someone for a quick answer to a question, or sent a letter which focused the attention of the recipient. Now huge volumes of emails fly across the net, and we're left waiting days for an answer. It may be cheap, but is it productive? Also — People think that debit cards are as safe as credit cards or direct debit authorities — until something goes wrong. And, if it's a continuous payment authority given to an overseas supplier, there's very limited protection available, beyond FCA guidance. Background music: 'Communicator' by Reed Mathis

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Gavin Oldham

The Financial Outlook for Personal Investors: Opportunities for mature investors and young adults

Gavin Oldham
Original Broadcast:

The Financial Outlook for Personal Investors

The Financial Outlook for Personal Investors: Opportunities for mature investors and young adults
With Simon Rose enjoying a short break, we bring you a short episode featuring two opportunities: the Sustain — Social event in London on 21st October (find all the details and booking arrangements at https://sustain.social and book using the discount voucher code SHARERADIO50), and the need for young adults to claim their Child Trust Fund account via https://findCTF.sharefound.org

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Gavin Oldham

Thought for the Week: Account Providers need to Take Action!

Gavin Oldham
Original Broadcast:

Thought for the Week

Thought for the Week: Account Providers need to Take Action!
Dame Meg Hillier is Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, which has published its 25-page report into Child Trust Funds following the recent National Audit Office analysis. HMRC is asked to follow a series of recommendations to link young adults to their unclaimed accounts, including getting account providers to take more action. Young adults from disadvantaged households are most in need of the c. £2,000 waiting to be claimed in their Child Trust but an estimated one million 18-20 year-olds are not claiming their money because they don't know anything about it. As we said on 22nd May, don't waste the Child Trust Fund harvest! Background music: The Plan's Working - Cooper Cannell Image by Richard Townshend

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