# Charity dormant funds held up because of no local NI government

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2018/01/09/charity-dormant-funds-held-no-local-ni-government/
- Published: 2018-01-09T13:12:30+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**Over £19 million available for charity in Northern Ireland from the Dormant Accounts
fund will not be released until a new Executive is formed, according to the Department
of Finance.**

 

“The policy for the New Opportunities Fund which will enable the utilisation of 
the Dormant Accounts funds is currently being developed,” a Department statement
explained.

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It went on: “The release and use of these funds is a decision for the Northern Ireland
Executive.”

 

Talks will begin soon to re-establish an Executive in Northern Ireland. But there
is little optimism that an agreement will be reached quickly.

 

## Dormant bank account initiative

 

The [dormant bank account](https://fundraising.co.uk/2007/03/16/dormant-accounts-call-charity/)
initiative distributes money from accounts unused for 15 years. Since 2008, **£360m**
has been recovered and spent, none of it in NI, according to [BBC NI](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland).

 

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said **£10m** was already available
and a further **£9.2m** was earmarked for the next two years.

 

In response to a Freedom of Information request from fundraising adviser Neil Irwin,
the Department of Finance said: “The intention to develop a scheme for the use of
dormant account funds in Northern Ireland has been announced on four separate occasions
by the following ministers: Sammy Wilson, Simon Hamilton, Mervyn Storey and Máirtín
Ó Muilleoir.”

 

Mr Irwin told the BBC that it was “disgraceful” that the money was not being available
to charities working in the education, health, disability and arts sectors. The 
urgency with which some charities need such funding could not be overstated.

 

He said: “It is money the sector needs, organisations are having to close because
of lack of funds.”

 

The government is considering whether to extend the scheme to other classes of unclaimed
financial assets, including shares, pensions, insurance policies and other investments
which could bring the sum available in the UK to around £2 billion.

 

 

 

_Photo: [Stormont](https://flic.kr/p/eLS5M4) by Diego Sideburns on Flickr.com_

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   5 September 2019)
 * **[Dormant Accounts releases €800,000 for social enterprise training](https://fundraising.co.uk/2019/09/11/dormant-accounts-releases-e800000-for-social-enterprise-training/)**(
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