The Children's Mutual Introduces 'Mel', a Truly Animated Guide to Child Trust Funds

TUNBRIDGE WELLS, England, November 11 - Leading Child Trust Fund provider, The Children's Mutual, is
pleased to announce the launch of a new cartoon guide to Child Trust Funds -
www.thechildrensmutual.co.uk/mel - the first of its kind in the
marketplace.

The cartoon guide is a 4 1/2 minute animation in a graphic
style reminiscent of perennial children's favourite, Fuzzy-Felt(TM). During
the film, busy new mum, Mel (and baby Emily), explains what the Child Trust
Fund is, the different sorts of funds that are available, their individual
features, how to find a provider and how to go about applying for a fund.

The guide is easily navigated using the control bar at the
bottom of the screen and has additional link-back buttons at the end of the
animation that allow viewers to go directly back to sections of particular
interest and watch them again. It also gives clear direction to alternative
information sources including HMRC.

Marketing Director, Tony Anderson, explains; 'We appreciate
that new parents have very little free time and when they do get a chance to
sit down they aren't necessarily in the mood to wade through financial
paperwork or regulatory terminology. But they still want to be sure that they
are making the right choices for their children. This is where our animated
guide provides a completely new approach to helping customers - through
carefully chosen language and functionality. It provides all the salient
information about CTFs in easy to understand language and simple to access
bite size sections.'

The animated guide can be viewed on The Children's Mutual
website at www.thechildrensmutual.co.uk/mel. A non-branded version of
the guide without references to The Children's Mutual Child Trust Fund is
also available for publications and sites to host themselves to help their
own audiences to more easily understand the Child Trust Fund.

Tony concludes; 'Opening a Child Trust Fund account can seem
like a daunting task, but with our new guide it needn't be. All we ask is
that parents give us just five minutes of their time to help them make an
informed decision.

To watch the cartoon guide to the CTF, visit
www.thechildrensmutual.co.uk/mel Or to find out more about The
Children's Mutual, visit www.thechildrensmutual.co.uk

Notes to Editors

    - Tony Anderson, Marketing Director of The Children's Mutual
      and father of four is available for interviews.

    - The Children's Mutual has a large database of case studies
      available.

About The Children's Mutual - Home of the Child Trust Fund

    - The Children's Mutual's mission is to help parents,
      grandparents, family and friends fulfil their hopes for today's
      children.

    - The Children's Mutual specialises exclusively in
      family-focused finance products and is now the choice of 1 in 4
      parents for their child's Child Trust Fund, with more than 725,000
      accounts.

    - The Children's Mutual has won The Moneyfacts Award for Best
      Child Trust Fund Provider every year since its 2006 launch.

    - The Children's Mutual, as experts in savings for children,
      made a significant contribution to the Government's Child Trust
      Fund consultation process.

    - This expertise has led several financial institutions and
      family-focused high street retailers to choose The Children's Mutual
      as their CTF partner including ASDA, Boots, The Co-operative, Lloyds
      TSB, Mothercare and regional bank and building societies across the
      UK.

About the Child Trust Fund

    - The Child Trust Fund is designed to provide a tax efficient,
      long term savings vehicle for all eligible young children.

    - Each eligible newborn child (born on or after 1 September
      2002) receives GBP250 (GBP500 for low income families) from the
      Government when their parents register for Child Benefit. The
      Government will make a second contribution of GBP250 (GBP500 for low
      income families) when the child is seven and is considering a third
      in the child's teenage years. Parents, family and friends can all
      then add to this account up to a maximum value of GBP1,200 each year.

    - The Government's preferred option is a Stakeholder Child
      Trust Fund Account. All Stakeholder CTF accounts are subject to
      strict guidelines governing investment type and charges.

    - The CTF provider manages the account until it matures and
      becomes available to the child when they are 18.

A picture accompanying this release is available through the PA
Photowire. It can be downloaded from www.pa-mediapoint.press.net or
viewed at www.mediapoint.press.net or www.prnewswire.co.uk.

Contact: Stephanie Quantick / Wendy Roberts, The Children's
Mutual, TEL: +44(0)1892-775-348 / +44(0)1892-775-337, email:
stephanie.quantick@thechildrensmutual.co.uk

Contact: Stephanie Quantick / Wendy Roberts, The Children's Mutual, TEL: +44(0)1892-775-348 / +44(0)1892-775-337, email: stephanie.quantick at thechildrensmutual.co.uk