An additional £44 million allocated to ‘Communities and good causes across England’ through the Dormant Assets Scheme takes the total to almost £850 million over the past decade.
… provide urgently-needed finance for up to 1,000 charities and social enterprises…
GOV.UK writes:
- Funding will help tackle youth unemployment, support communities in deprived areas and give people in need access to finance
- New Government Bill could unlock further £880 million for good causes
Communities and good causes across England have been allocated an additional £44 million through the Dormant Assets Scheme.
The funding will be used to tackle youth unemployment, expand access to investment for charities and social enterprises, and help improve the availability of fair, affordable loans to people in vulnerable circumstances.
The Dormant Assets Scheme releases funds from dormant bank and building society accounts, which are accounts that have been open for 15 years, but during that period no transactions have been carried out.
The £44 million funding will be distributed by The National Lottery Community Fund, as follows:
- £20 million will enable Youth Futures Foundation to test and evidence the best approaches to breaking down barriers and improving access to employment for disadvantaged young people
- £20 million will go to Access – The Foundation for Social Investment, to provide urgently-needed finance for up to 1,000 charities and social enterprises, particularly in more deprived areas
- £4 million will allow Fair4All Finance to accelerate their work on affordable consolidation loans for people in financially vulnerable circumstances
More than £800 million has been unlocked by the Dormant Assets Scheme over the last decade, including £150 million that supported the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Nigel Huddleston, Minister for Sport, Tourism, Civil Society and Youth, said:
“This latest £44 million allocation from the Dormant Assets Scheme will make a real difference to people’s lives in communities across England. As well as helping young people find jobs, it will also provide financial support to those that need it the most.
“And we will not stop here. We are currently bringing legislation through to expand the Dormant Assets Scheme even further, so it can release even more money to help level up communities throughout the country.”
It follows the Government publishing its Levelling Up White Paper last week, which set out a plan to transform the UK by spreading opportunity and prosperity to all parts of the country.
Following a public consultation process, a new Bill is currently working its way through Parliament, which is set to deliver on the Government’s commitment to expand the Dormant Assets Scheme.
This could potentially unlock a further £880 million across the UK over the coming years by enabling a wider range of dormant assets to be transferred into the Scheme from the insurance and pensions, investment and wealth management, and securities sectors.
There are 30 participating firms in the Dormant Assets Scheme, which will continue to have consumer protection at its heart, with participants’ first priority continuing to be reuniting people with their assets.
Where this is not possible, more businesses will soon be able to voluntarily transfer dormant assets into the Scheme, unlocking funding for social and environmental causes across the UK that are additional to central or devolved government funding….
