# Dormant accounts slowly waking up?

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2005/12/14/dormant-accounts-slowly-waking/
- Published: 2005-12-14T00:00:00+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

The banking industry estimates that several hundred million pounds would be available
for charitable activity under new policy finally agreed.

The Chancellor, Gordon Brown has revealed progress on the unclaimed assets issue
in his pre-budget statement on 5 December 2005.

Brown said the Government has been working with the industry to design a scheme
which both preserves the rights of the individual customer and at the same time 
allows these assets to be reinvested in the community.

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The Government and the industry have agreed that the definition of an unclaimed 
asset should generally cover accounts where there has been no customer activity 
for a period of 15 years as that will best identify those accounts that are genuinely
unclaimed, and it will consult further on the detail of this. On this basis, initial
record searches by the industry suggest that several hundred million pounds may 
currently lie unclaimed.

The Government believes that where owners and their assets cannot be reunited, the
money should be reinvested in the community, particularly in deprived communities,
in a sustainable way, through a coordinated delivery mechanism, with a focus on 
youth services that are responsive to the needs of young people, and also on financial
education and exclusion. There would be an option for small locally-based financial
institutions to focus on these needs in their local communities.

The Government and the industry will continue to work together, to develop the best
structure to deliver this approach, and have said they will consult with stakeholders
such as organisations representing the interests of young people and the Commission
on Unclaimed Assets.

An independent Commission on Unclaimed Assets has been set up at the initiative 
of the Scarman Trust to engage government, banks, consumer groups, charities and
the voluntary and community sector to recommend a framework for their productive
use for the benefit of disadvantaged communities in the UK. NCVO is on the Advisory
Council for the Commission.

The Balance Charitable Foundation was established in December 2003 and welcomed 
by the Government. It is a charitable initiative whose objectives are to release
unclaimed assets held by UK financial institutions and to make grants to the charitable
sector. It is a private sector initiative independent of Government, financial institutions
and the voluntary sector.

The Irish government established under legislation three years ago a body to collect
money from bank accounts and for the last two years has been distributing money 
under the Dormant Accounts Fund.

www.hm-treasury.gov.uk

www.balancefoundation.org.uk

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