When Max Prince turned 18 he got the kid depend pool his parents opened when he was born – only to discover shock fees had left him with just £12.39.

He was one of about six million babies, born between September 2002 and January 2011, who all received at least £250 from the government to kick commence their reserves.

The concept was the long-term levy free reserves pot would leave up in worth by their 18th birthdays.

When Max’s pool matured, pool firm Columbia Threadneedle was in fee of it. It said it had written to his parents about a £30 annual fee but the letters were returned unopened. The household had moved house and over the years the fee ate almost all of the reserves.

kid depend Funds were set up by the then Chancellor Gordon Brown with strict rules on how much could be charged in fees.

The first of those funds started maturing four years ago when those babies began turning 18 and, like Max, were notified that they could finally access their reserves.

“We’d been expecting this note for a while, I cruel we’d been waiting for it for 18 years basically,” said Max.

“So when me and the household one morning opened this note, expecting to discover at the very least £300 or so, we instead saw the number £12.39. Not £120, not anything… just £12.39.

“It was certainly shocking, to declare the least, and it’s benevolent of outrageous as well.”

Statements seen by the BBC display the pool was worth just over £300 by 2012.

But as of 2013, a £30 annual administration fee began on the account which Max’s parents said they knew nothing about.

The maximum fee allowed to be charged on kid depend Funds was set at 1.5% but the BBC has calculated Max was effectively charged 10% and more each year.

The pool was originally administered by F&C Investments but after a series of industry takeovers ended up with multi-billion pound pool firm Columbia Threadneedle by the period it matured.

It told the BBC the type of account chosen by Max’s parents was a CTF Shares account, which has a different fee model. Subsequently the £25 plus VAT fee was for administering the account, not the underlying pool.

The business told the BBC it had tried to contact Max’s parents when it put in place “the current charging structure” but that its letters were returned unopened.

Max’s parents said they had moved house and did not receive the letters despite setting up a forwarding structure. They said they knew the details of Max’s pool and knew when it was due to mature but had not expected to be contacted before then.

Columbia Threadneedle said its kid Trusts Funds “require customers to actively make their own pool decisions and without authorisation and communication from customers, we are unable to receive action on their behalf”.

Max’s parents told the BBC they were unhappy with this explanation and would contact the firm to complain.

Max said: “The money was originally intended by Gordon Brown to be something that would assist upcoming adults just get off the ground a bit, get ahead in life.

“In the grand scheme of things it can’t be a lot of money for the business, correct? It’s only around £300, so it is unfair in my view.

“You could declare cruel. It’s unexplainable I ponder would be the best way of putting it.”

The average amount in kid depend Funds is estimated to be around £2,000 because of growth over the years and extra money put in by household and friends.

But many funds are sitting unclaimed because people simply don’t recognize about them.

Gavin Oldham is an pool specialist with decades of encounter in the industry who now runs a government-backed organisation that helps locate lost kid depend Funds. He is campaigning to assist hundreds of thousands of youthful adults from low-turnover households access an estimated £800m of money held in lost funds.

He said Max’s was “a fairly shocking narrative”.

“The pool business… certainly did have discretion to get rid of that £25 plus VAT fee per year, and they do have the discretion now to reimburse the whole lot [of charges] together with a compensation award as well,” he said.

“The next step for that household is to leave and talk to the [Financial Ombudsman Service] and they’d receive a fairly dim view of this I’d imagine.”

Columbia Threadneedle told the BBC: “As we assess our kid depend Funds, we will place a specific focus on identifying other similar situations to assess, as appropriate, what action we can receive.

“Our ongoing responsibility to the buyer is significant to us and thank Money Box for raising this case with us.”