SIRC in the News 2007
- Birmingham Post — 02.02.2008
A helping hand for today's children. ... a detailed study of CTFs from The Children's Mutual, a friendly society restyled by chief executive David White to promote Mr Brown's dream of a new "savings gateway", tries to put the scheme into perspective. Compiled by The Social Issues Research Centre, it predicts an initial payout of pounds 2.4 billion in autumn 2020 to children born after September 1, 2002, a sum possibly big enough to influence the economy by triggering a new generation of entrepreneurs, and by making it possible to buy a home much earlier. - Northern Echo — 28.01.2008
Counting the cost of 'spendemic' ... When CTF vouchers first arrived three years ago, they were greeted with scepticism, and some lazy parents. At the last count, about 3.6 million CTF vouchers had been despatched, but more than a quarter of the recipients haven't bothered to use them to open a savings account for their child. Now a detailed study of CTFs from The Children's Mutual ... tries to put the scheme into perspective. Compiled by The Social Issues Research Centre, it predicts an initial payout of £2.4bn in autumn 2020 to children born after September 1, 2002, a sum possibly big enough to influence the economy by triggering a new generation of entrepreneurs, and by making it possible to buy a home much earlier. - Evening Standard — 23.01.2008
Save now and buy later. Millions of young people will benefit from a scheme to help them buy their first home, a new report reveals ... Research carried out by the Social Issues Research Centre for The Children's Mutual, one of the largest CTF providers, reveals that although the average first- time buyer will probably need a deposit of £18,800 to buy a home by 2020, a fully-topped up CTF could provide a cash lump sum at maturity of £37,100. This assumes that the full £1,200 a year allowable top-up is added to the CTF and the investments show an average return of seven per cent a year not unrealistic if the money is invested in an equity-based fund. - Sunday Times — 20.01.2008
Child funds grow up. Parents could give their children a £37,000 windfall at 18 by making the maximum top-up to their child trust fund (CTF), although advisers warn that they will end up with much less if they choose a poor account ... With another £250 from the government at age seven, by 18, total contributions to the scheme can top £20,000. As long as the fund grows by an average 7% a year that will grow to £37,100 when the child accesses the cash at 18, according to the Social Issues Research Centre (SIRC). - Scotsman — 18.01.2008
Children's trust funds could kick-start kids. By 2020, people in their late teens and twenties could be in a much better situation than today's young adults when it comes to home ownership, entrepreneurship and general prosperity. This is because it is estimated that, from 2020, the first year child trust fund (CTF) holders celebrate their 18th birthday, their CTF accounts could pay out an estimated £2.4 billion a year. Research published today by the Social Issues Research Centre (SIRC), commissioned by the Children's Mutual, is describing this transformation as a "new dawn for teens". - Guardian — 18.01.2008
Trust fund generation to buck savings trend. Their grandparents were babyboomers, pushing social boundaries amid economic security. Their parents were generation X-ers, spending fast but feeling insecure in a fast-changing world. Now the "child trust fund generation", the first British children to benefit from a state saving scheme, are set to become forward planners, using state-sponsored inheritance to buffer themselves against global uncertainty through house purchases, education and savings. A report published today by the Social Issues Research Centre, on the third anniversary of the first child trust fund vouchers issued by the government, forecasts the emergence of an unashamedly sensible generation, opting to spend the trust fund cash they get at the age of 18 on moves towards a secure life. - Times — 18.01.2008
Those who can afford to save make best use of child funds. They were designed to give poor children the modest nest egg that most middle-class teenagers expect from their parents when they turn 18. But research shows that it is the middle classes who are making the most of the Government’s Child Trust Funds. Twenty-three per cent of such funds are being topped up by parents. The average monthly top-up is £21.20. The research was carried out by the Social Issues Research Centre think-tank on behalf of The Children’s Mutual, which manages £250 million worth of such funds and which found that among its own clients the extra savings were even higher, with 47 per cent of parents topping up their children’s funds using direct debits. - The Economist — 12.01.2008
Turf wars; Racing changes. Toffs and spivs are quarrelling over the sport of kings. Few British institutions have proved as steadfast as racing, the sport of kings. Whereas the Royal Navy stopped handing out rum rations in 1970, and the younger royals have moved away from family values and good taste, racing still clings to its oldest traditions. At Royal Ascot, Britain's most famous race meeting, men entering the royal enclosure wear full morning dress and ladies cover their shoulders and midriffs. Kate Fox, a social anthropologist, calls racing the "last bastion of old-fashioned chivalry", where women are treated with courtesy and even sozzled crowds have "exceptionally good manners".
Mind you don't mistake me for Penelope Cruz. It's like a vast, culturally manufactured disease, leeching into the developed world. I'll bet that even our grandparents' generation didn't have this kind of negative self-criticism that most of us assume is normal today. In one United States survey, 81 per cent of 10-year-old girls had already dieted at least once, according to the Social Issues Research Centre. Okay, you reason, maybe US children are heavier. But then how do you explain that 25 per cent of 7-year-olds in Sweden have dieted. In Japan, 41 per cent of elementary schoolgirls thought they were too fat.
