£76 million in forgotten accounts to provide help with rising living costs and energy-saving projects

Some £76 million sitting in forgotten accounts across England will be redirected to support people to get out of debt and help with energy-saving initiatives, the government has said.

The most vulnerable in society will be given additional support to deal with the rising cost of living through the Dormant Assets Scheme, which unlocks money from dormant bank accounts when it is not possible to reunite people with their lost funds.

Among the projects that the money will benefit is one that sees no-interest loans handed to 69,000 people struggling with finances via a £45 million grant distributed by Fair4All Finance.

Hundreds of charities and social enterprises will also receive support from a pot of £31 million, distributed by social investors Access and Big Society Capital. This will be used to retrofit premises with more efficient energy systems, such as new boilers or heat pumps, solar panels, and new lighting.

In 2022 it was announced that the scheme would be expanded to include dormant assets in the insurance and pensions, investment and wealth management, and securities sectors, in addition to dormant bank and building society accounts.

This is estimated to unlock a further £880 million over time, £738 million of which will be made available for England. A total of £892 million has already been released via the scheme since 2011.

The government has also announced that community wealth funds will become an additional beneficiary of the Dormant Assets Scheme. This is a pot of money distributed to communities in deprived areas and released over a long time period, with local residents empowered to make decisions on how to use the money.

Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer said: “Today we are announcing that millions of pounds will be redirected from dormant accounts to help the most vulnerable in society deal with the cost of living. This will have a real impact on people’s lives, help alleviate debt and provide money-saving solutions for charitable organisations.”

David Knott, chief executive, the National Lottery Community Fund, said: “As the distributor of dormant assets, the National Lottery Community Fund sees first-hand the life-changing difference this funding makes. I welcome the government’s plans to include community wealth funds alongside existing causes.

“This reflects The National Lottery Community Fund’s experience of funding and supporting communities over decades. I look forward to turbo charging efforts through this expansion.”

A dormant asset is a financial product - such as a bank account - that the customer has not used for many years, and which the business has been unable to reunite them with. Dormant assets remain the property of their owners and the scheme must match what the business would have paid the owner had their assets never been transferred into the scheme. This means that owners can reclaim any money owed to them at any time.