THE launch of the Child Trust Fund (CTF) brings into focus the issue of saving for your child's key life events.

For many parents, that may mean university costs (estimated at nearly £30,000 over three years), help with buying a car or the deposit on a first home.

Michael Proudfoot, a director at the Kendal office of Lonsdale & Partners Chartered Accountants, examines the CTF in his latest article for Business Gazette.

With the cost of raising a child from birth to age 21 estimated at more than £140,000, there might be limited spare funds. But starting even a modest programme of saving now could create the nest egg' your child will need.

The Child trust Fund is a savings and investment account available for all children living in the UK born on or after September 1, 2002. The Government will start the account with a gift of £250 and will make a further contribution when the child is seven.

The child will not be able to access the money until the age of 18. Neither the parents nor the child will pay tax on income and gains in the account. More information is available at: www.childtrustfund.gov.uk.

The money provided by the Government for investment in a CTF account could be viewed as a launch pad for your child, as you and other relatives can add up to £1,200 a year for investment tax-free.

You might consider investing some or all of the Child Benefit in your child's CTF account (current rate equivalent to £884 a year for your eldest child).