NatWest First Saver Trust Accounts Face Access Delays for Children of Parents with Dementia

A parent with advanced Alzheimer’s disease granted a financial power of attorney to her adult child, who then discovered that the child could not withdraw the £20,000 held in two NatWest First Saver accounts set up for the parent’s grandchildren. The bank required the mother’s consent for the children to access the funds, but her cognitive condition made consent impossible. Over the course of roughly a year, the family sought assistance from multiple NatWest call-centre agents and branch staff without success.

The Guardian

NatWest First Saver accounts are marketed as long-term savings products for children, held in trust until the beneficiaries reach 18 years of age. Parents or grandparents typically make regular contributions to support future university expenses. In this case, the grandparents had been paying into the accounts monthly with the expectation that the funds would be available for the grandchildren’s higher-education costs.

The Guardian

NatWest attributed the prolonged inability to release the money to “lack of colleague awareness” of a “complex process” governing trust-account withdrawals. The bank described the situation as a training shortfall across both call-centre and branch personnel. NatWest indicated that the experience would be used to “inform future improvements” and noted that compensation had been paid to the affected parties after the children finally obtained access to their accounts.

The Guardian

Because the funds remained inaccessible, the family was forced to obtain a separate bank loan to cover the daughter’s university expenses. The son, who was set to start university, faced similar financial uncertainty until the accounts were unlocked. The incident highlights the practical challenges families encounter when a designated account holder develops a severe cognitive illness and underscores the importance of clear, accessible procedures for trust-account access.

The Guardian