Richard and Caitlin Brain, who live in Swansea, are paying £50 per month into pensions for each of their two children, aged 20 months and five months respectively. The couple contributes a combined £220 monthly to their children's long-term savings accounts, which includes £60 per month per child into Junior ISA accounts accessible at age 18, alongside the pension contributions locked until age 57.
Richard, 30, who works for an investment firm, says the early contributions allow money decades to compound. His wife Caitlin, 28, is currently on maternity leave from her council job. The couple earn less than £90,000 annually between them and say the savings require living more frugally than before. "We don't eat out as often as we used to, which as foodies is a pain," Richard states. "And we don't go as big for one another on birthdays and Christmas so that we can still do it for the kids."
Junior self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs) for children have existed in the UK since 2001. Parents can contribute a maximum of £2,880 annually, which the government tops up with £720 in tax relief, totaling £3,600 per year. Two major providers report surging demand. Hargreaves Lansdown saw account openings increase two and a half times in the 12 months to April 2026 compared to the prior year. Fidelity accounts have more than tripled since December 2023.
Jemma Slingo, a pensions specialist at Fidelity, calculated that £50 monthly contributions from birth, including tax relief, would total £10,800 over 18 years and could grow to approximately £135,000 by retirement. Hugo Thompson, 15, whose parents have paid maximum contributions for the past decade, expressed comfort with the long wait. "The money invested means perhaps I'll be ahead when I'm older," he says. "So I won't have to put quite so much of my own money in."
The practice extends beyond Britain. US President Donald Trump launched Trump Accounts in July, allowing contributions up to $5,000 annually per child. The American accounts permit access from age 18, though withdrawals before 59.5 face taxes and potential 10% penalties. Wally Luckeydoo, a personal finance teacher in Tennessee, opened accounts for his children aged four and three, describing it as giving them "a financial head start" after his own childhood financial struggles.