The UK Government has announced that dormant assets across the insurance and pensions, investment, wealth management, and securities sectors are set to be unlocked, with the potential for more than £800 million to be made available to support the UK as it recovers from the coronavirus pandemic.

Funding raised through the expansion of the scheme will enable continued support of good causes, social investments and environmental initiatives.

This major expansion of the Dormant Assets Scheme marks the completion of a four year review and public consultation process. The responses showed widespread support for expanding the scheme from bank and building society accounts to include assets in these new sectors.

Led by the financial industry and backed by the UK Government, the expanded scheme will have consumer protection at its heart, with the priority continuing to be locating and reuniting people with their financial assets.

Where that is not possible, more businesses will now be allowed to participate voluntarily in transferring dormant assets into the scheme. People will still be able to reclaim their assets in full at any time.

Since 2011, 30 banks and building societies participating in the current scheme have enabled the release of over £745 million from dormant accounts that have been inactive for at least 15 years. These funds have been used to support a range of social and environmental initiatives across the UK, including helping young people on the path to employment, tackling financial exclusion, growing the social investment market, and supporting renewable energy solutions.

£150 million was unlocked in May 2020 to support the UK’s charity and voluntary sectors, as they continue to play a vital role during the coronavirus pandemic. The funding is supporting urgent work to tackle youth unemployment, expand access to emergency loans for civil society organisations and help improve the availability of fair, affordable credit to people in vulnerable circumstances.

Oliver Dowden, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, said:

Funds raised through the existing Dormant Assets Scheme have already made a huge difference to vulnerable people and communities across the UK, especially during the pandemic.

Expanding the scheme will mean hundreds of millions more for good causes, helping us to build back stronger in the years to come.

Baroness Barran, Minister for Civil Society, said:

Expanding the Dormant Assets Scheme provides us with two positive opportunities to highlight the importance of people tracing their lost financial assets. Firstly it will highlight the potential importance for people to trace their lost financial assets.

Secondly, where that is not possible, it will release over £800 million for social investment that will make a real difference to people – both young and old – experiencing challenging circumstances across the UK as we work hard to recover from this pandemic.

John Glen MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury said:

Banks and building societies across the UK are working tirelessly to reunite people with forgotten assets. But on occasions where this isn’t possible, it’s right that these funds are used to tackle some of the UK’s most pressing social and environmental challenges.

The expansion of the scheme will mean more people are reconnected with their assets, whilst also making more money available for good causes.

To date, funding released through the Dormant Assets Scheme has been used in a number of ways, including:

Over £425 million has been used to establish Big Society Capital, an independent financial institution, launched in 2012, with the aim of growing the social investment market in the UK. To date, over 1,200 social enterprises and charities have received investment from Big Society Capital and the social impact investment market has grown from £830 million in 2011 to £5.1 billion.

£96 million has been provided to Fair4All Finance to increase the financial resilience and wellbeing of people in vulnerable circumstances through improving availability of fair and accessible financial products and services. Fair4All Finance has provided over £15 million in financial support to the community finance sector so far, including £12 million of equity investments in community finance providers and £3.6 million in Covid-19 grants.

£90 million has been provided to Youth Futures Foundation to break down the barriers to work for young people across England, with a focus on responding to the findings of the Racial Disparity Audit. It includes investing £6 million into targeted support for young people who are not in education, employment or training, and deploying £8.7 million in coronavirus grants to frontline charities, social enterprises and infrastructure bodies tackling youth unemployment.

£40 million has been provided to Access – The Foundation for Social Investment. In response to Covid-19 Access has made up to £10 million available for emergency support through social lenders, while also developing a wider £18 million programme of flexible long-term recovery finance for the social sector.

£10.4 million of funding has been provided to the ‘Engage to Change’ project in Wales since 2016, to break down barriers and stigma around disability by supporting 16-25 year olds with learning difficulties and/or autism into employment. Working with over 800 employers in Wales, in the past five years the project has enabled 959 young people to develop new skills, 381 young people to secure a paid work placement, and 272 young people to move into secure employment after their work placement.

In June 2020, more than £800,000 of dormant assets funding was provided via the Young Start programme to 12 youth-led groups in Scotland, including Leonard Cheshire and Can Do Dumfries, to help young people develop their personal skills, gain accredited qualifications that will boost their chances of future employment, and reach their full potential – often through digital platforms to keep them engaged during the pandemic.

Northern Ireland has recently used dormant assets funding to establish a £20.5 million Dormant Accounts Fund for the voluntary, community, and social enterprise sector, which will open for applications on 12 January.

The UK Government intends to legislate for the scheme expansion and will continue to work with industry, regulators, and Reclaim Fund Ltd to ensure its success.

Notes to editors:

The definition of a dormant asset varies according to the type of asset in question. In general it means a financial product, such as a bank account, that the customer has not used for many years and which the provider has been unable to reunite them with, despite efforts based on industry best practice.

The Dormant Assets Scheme has so far unlocked the following amounts to benefit social and environmental initiatives across the UK. All figures are approximate:

Currently, the scheme accepts only dormant bank and building society accounts. Dormant bank or building society accounts are those that have not been touched for at least 15 years, and where the bank or building society has been unable to reunite the customer with their money, despite a thorough reunification process. The sectors to be included in the expanded scheme and final definitions of dormancy for all assets are outlined in the UK Government response to the consultation.

Assets proposed to be within the scope of the expansion include:

• Proceeds of dormant life insurance and retirement income policies
• Proceeds of dormant shares or units in collective investments
• Dormant investment asset distributions and proceeds
• Proceeds of, or distributions from, dormant shares
• Unclaimed proceeds from corporate actions

Once the scheme has been expanded, participants must continue to first make efforts, based on industry best practice, to reunite assets with their owners.

Owners will always be able to reclaim the same amount they would have had if their assets were never transferred, as they do in the current scheme, and organisations will continue to participate on a voluntary basis.

There are over 30 firms participating in the current Scheme, including HSBC Bank plc, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide Building Society, Royal Bank of Scotland, and The Co-operative Bank plc. A full list can be found here.

Under the current and expanded scheme, funds are held by Reclaim Fund Ltd (RFL). RFL holds sufficient money to cover any reclaims while distributing the surplus to The National Lottery Community Fund for social or environmental initiatives across the UK.

Owners can trace their dormant assets through a variety of means:

Since 2015 the company has invested more than £85 million towards the creation of 160 new and upgraded cycle ways across England, providing safe, attractive and accessible facilities for people to cycle for work, shopping and leisure.

In the latest initiative, Highways England is investing £630,000 into the A36 Southampton Road in Salisbury, between College Roundabout and Bourne Way Roundabout.

This stretch of the National Cycle Network serves an important and well used connection, but the current route is not continuous.

The 800-metre cycle way will reduce the need for detours, dismounting or cycling within the carriageway. This is phase two of the scheme, with previous work introducing a route from Petersfinger Park and Ride to Bourne Way Roundabout.

It will see footpath widening, reconfiguration, new signs and lining, and high friction surfacing at entrances. Work on the cycleway began yesterday (4 Jan) and is expected to be completed by the end of March, with works carried out overnight under signalling and pedestrians being asked to use the southern side footway.

Highways England Route Manager Neil Winter said:

We’re committed to significantly improving cycle efficiency and safety across our road network, and the new and improved cycle way will make it much easier and safer for cyclists and pedestrians.

At Highways England, our work goes beyond operating, maintaining and improving roads. We’re investing in the environment and communities surrounding our network, as well as the people travelling and working on it.

We aim to address social and environmental issues and add real value to society.

We’re delighted to be partnering with Wiltshire Council to realise this project – a glowing example of how this funding can make life better for communities living and working near our roads.

Cllr Bridget Wayman, Cabinet member for Highways at Wiltshire Council, said:

The council supports any measures that seek to encourage more people to use sustainable modes of travel and welcome the improvements proposed by Highways England.

Highways England manages four designated funds, allocated by the Government, to deliver benefits above and beyond building, maintaining and operating England’s strategic roads.

From protecting the environment and enhancing the landscape around roads, to improving safety, reducing congestion, and supporting communities, the aim is to make a positive difference to people’s lives.

Elsewhere in the South West, designated funding has already provided safer journeys for cyclists around M5 Junction 16 near Bristol and Cycle Route 45 around the A303 Solstice Park near Amesbury, while other ongoing schemes include:

• £17 million of funding invested to enable Cornwall Council to deliver four major cycle routes alongside the busy A30;
• £1.2 million towards a cycle path upgrade and £1m towards the design of several other cycle routes around the Avonmouth area of Bristol;
• £675,000 towards improved cycle and footpaths and upgraded crossings on both the A35 and Sea Road South around Bridport.

Cyclists, pedestrians and horse riders will see more benefits over the next five years, with £169 million set aside in Highways England’s new Users and Communities fund.

The company is using the fund to improve services for users and neighbours of England’s motorways and major A-roads, including increasing the options people have for sustainable travel.

General enquiries

Members of the public should contact the Highways England customer contact centre on 0300 123 5000.

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Journalists should contact the Highways England press office on 0844 693 1448 and use the menu to speak to the most appropriate press officer.

The Prime Minister has appointed Alok Sharma as full-time President of the UN COP26 climate conference in Glasgow this November, with Kwasi Kwarteng appointed as Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

COP26 will be the largest summit the UK has ever hosted, bringing together representatives from nearly 200 countries, including world leaders, experts, and campaigners.

To meet the high ambitions for the summit in the year of COP26, Alok Sharma will solely focus on driving forward coordinated global action to tackle climate change. A successful summit in November will be critical if we want to meet the objectives set out by the Paris Agreement and reduce global emissions. The UK has set a high bar, with our recent commitment to reduce emissions by at least 68% by 2030, but we also need other countries to do their bit.

Alok Sharma has been a leading force behind the UK’s climate diplomacy, since assuming the role in February 2020. The Climate Ambition Summit co-hosted by the UK in December last year saw 75 world leaders set out new commitments to climate action.

The COP26 President will be based in the Cabinet Office, continuing as a full member of Cabinet, and will chair the Climate Action Implementation Committee to coordinate government action towards net zero by 2050 in the run up to COP26.

COP26 President Alok Sharma said:

The biggest challenge of our time is climate change and we need to work together to deliver a cleaner, greener world and build back better for present and future generations.

Through the UK’s Presidency of COP26 we have a unique opportunity, working with friends and partners around the world, to deliver on this goal.

Given the vital importance of tackling climate change I am delighted to have been asked by the Prime Minister to dedicate all my energies to this urgent task.

Kwasi Kwarteng has been appointed Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

With a wealth of experience working in the department, with industry and across government in his previous role as Minister of State, Kwasi Kwarteng will lead and bring together work on business, science and innovation to unleash investment and growth in his new role as Secretary of State.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan will become Minister of State for Business, Energy and Clean Growth, taking forward climate and energy policy, including implementing plans in the Prime Minister’s Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution.

She will also continue in her role as UK’s International Champion on Adaptation and Resilience for the COP26 Presidency, supporting countries vulnerable to climate change to adapt to its impacts and build resilience.

The UK continues to lead by example in cutting emissions by more than any other similar developed nation – and at the fastest rate. The Prime Minister’s Ten Point Plan sets out how we will go further and faster towards a greener future, including committing to end the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030, supporting renewable energy projects across the UK, investing in technology and transforming the energy efficiency of the UK’s homes and public buildings.